Joe Biden has been involved in DC politics since 1972, when he was elected to the Senate. Now as president-elect, all eyes are on Biden as he assembles the key players in his administration—and it’s looking an awful lot like Obama-era, business-as-usual politics, much to the disappointment of more progressive voters.

Today, we’re joined by two of those progressive voices: John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, and Jacobin editor David Sirota. They respond to Biden’s current lineup of cabinet picks, discuss the state of the Democratic Party, and make the case for the kind of political change needed to respond to the pandemic, historic unemployment, racial injustice, and climate crisis.

John Nichols is the national affairs correspondent for The Nation, a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times, and the associate editor of the Cap Times.

David Sirota is the publisher of The Daily Poster, an editor at large at Jacobin, and a columnist at The Guardian. He served as Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign speechwriter in 2020.