By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President-elect Biden is getting pulled in multiple directions by multiple political interests.

It gives me cause for concern.

Joe Biden is a center-left Democrat. I believe that’s how he portrayed himself. He moderates his views on occasion, seeking compromise when possible with politicians with differing views. So, when I hear that progressives want a more progressive Cabinet than what they’re getting to date, I am left to wonder: What do they expect from a man who campaigned as a moderate?

The president-elect is getting pressure from African-American interests, from Latinos, from Asian-Americans. They, too, want more people who look like them at the highest levels of government.

I’ve declared already that I am a “good government progressive.” One of the ways I determine “good government” is whether we are being served by the best possible individuals. Does their ethnic or  racial background rise to the level of critical importance? Well, I guess not. Then again, I am a white male, grandson of immigrants. I don’t fit into any particular racial or ethnic minority … unless you include Greeks in that category.

The president-elect has pledged to craft a government team that resembles the country he was elected to govern. I believe so far he is on the way to keeping that pledge. He has a long way to go. I hope he can resist the temptation to buckle under to every ethnic, racial or socio-economic group that tugs at him.

I am keeping faith with the promise he brings to repair the damage done by his predecessor.