From inside the administration, some officials express concern that [White House chief of staff Ron Klain] ‘micromanages’ the West Wing and gives outsize credence to cable news and social media. Some former colleagues and longtime Biden allies fret that advice they used to offer Biden directly isn’t getting through. And on Capitol Hill, Klain has been a favorite target for Democrats, and especially Republicans, who say Biden has drifted too far to the left. …
The main criticisms of Klain, whether from current or former Biden staff members or those who consider themselves allies of the president, flow from a single idea: that Biden has strayed from his core brand as a pragmatic, empathetic politician who won the Democratic nomination as a moderate willing to compromise. They see Klain as the person responsible for that. His ubiquitous presence on Twitter has solidified that view, particularly for those who see it as being out of step with a 2020 campaign that deliberately tuned out cable news pundits and ‘blue checks’ on social media.
