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Two Indian-Americans have been selected to be on the important Democratic Platform Drafting Committee, one of them a close confidante of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
On May 23, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz announced the appointment of the 15-person Platform Drafting Committee which is responsible for developing and managing the process through which the Democratic Party’s National Platform is established.
Several of the appointees were selected by the two Democratic presidential contenders, Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Among those Clinton selected was Neera Tanden, executive director of the progressive think-tank, the Center for American Progress. Tanden is a long-time Clinton supporter and was also an important player during the then First Lady’s healthcare initiative, and more recently, helped draft President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The Clinton Campaign’s Senior Policy Advisor Maya Harris, an Indian-American, and sister of California Attorney General Kamala Harris, will be a non-voting member of the Committee, as will Sanders Campaign’s Policy Director Warren Gunnels.
Although, according to DNC rules, the members of the drafting committee are appointed at the discretion of the DNC Chair, Wasserman-Schulz tried a more inclusive approach this year, allocating 75% of the committee’s seats to the presidential campaigns, awarding the slots proportionally according to the current vote tally between the candidates.
The Democratic Platform Committee may become the forum where the real battle between Sanders and Clinton is fought out, as the Vermont Senator expects to turn the Democratic Party more to the left. He has already succeeded in nudging Clinton’s campaign in that direction with his popularity among Millennials and young voters.
Though political pundits have already handed the Democratic nomination to Clinton because of the overwhelming support she has among Super Delegates, i.e. establishment-inclined elected and other Democrats, Sanders has won enough primaries to project the image of a party trying to push against popular will.
“These individuals represent some of the best progressive thinking from across the nation, Wasserman-Schultz said in a press release.
“I am confident that the members of this committee will engage Americans in a substantive dialogue of ideas and solutions that will inform our Party Platform.”
Tanden has been campaigning for Clinton in several states during the primaries, several of which have gone against the former Secretary of State. The July party convention in Philadelphia may turn out to be a contentious. Among several people who congratulated Tanden on her Facebook page, there was one who expressed that premonition. “Congratulations. Hope the convention wont be “messy”!!” said Chhaya Mani, to which Tanden replied, “so do I! Thanks all!”
Tanden has also stepped up outreach to Indian-Americans, a constituency known to be more than 70 percent Democratic. Millennial Indian-Americans however, appear split between Sanders and Clinton.
Tanden has served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, as well as presidential campaigns and think tanks. She served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, working on President Barack Obama’s health reform team in the White House, helping develop policies around reform and working with Congress and stakeholders on particular provisions of the legislation.
Prior to that, Tanden was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, where she managed all domestic policy proposals. She had also served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, where she directed all policy work, ranging from domestic policy to the economy to foreign affairs, and managed day-to-day policy announcements. In that role, she also oversaw the debate preparation process for then-Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y.
When Clinton was a Senator, Tanden was her legislative director, overseeing all policy and legislation in the Senate office. In 2000, she was Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign manager and issues director for her Senate campaign in New York. Tanden also served as associate director for domestic policy in the Clinton White House and senior policy advisor to the first lady.
She was named one of the “Most Influential Women in Washington” by National Journal, and was recently included on Elle magazine’s “Women in Washington Power List” and recognized as one of Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Politics.”
She has a bachelor of science degree from University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from Yale Law School.
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