Call It the Biden Two-Step: How to Stumble, and Grow Stronger
BEST FOOT FORWARD
The real issue, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, is not whether Biden is too old, but that time and time again his opponents appear too callow and inexperienced to keep up with him.
David Rothkopf
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But let’s think that through a minute. Given the outcomes we have seen this week, isn’t the real issue, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, not whether Biden is too old, but that time and time again his opponents appear too callow and inexperienced to keep up with him.
As a momentous week for Biden draws to a close, it is fair to ask what is a bigger story—a momentary incident when someone left a sandbag in the president’s path or is it the fact that Biden surefootedly handled a debt crisis that had the entire world on edge? Is it the silly gotcha mentality of Fox News or is the fact that Biden in a tough negotiation once again turned out to lead the process as deftly and elegantly as Fred Astaire? (Could Fred Astaire have shown the grace Biden did in complimenting the man who caused the crisis, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy?)
Is it more significant that everyone expected, yet again, that Biden would take the fall for the financial hostage crisis manufactured by the GOP, or that the tough-talking MAGA right ended up wondering what hit them, proven impotent in the face of bipartisan agreement to take a more sensible course?
Or turn to a story that is even bigger than the debt showdown in the United States. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech in Helsinki, Finland that made it clear that the underestimated Biden had executed a pirouette in U.S. foreign policy that left vaunted master strategist Vladimir Putin flat on his ass.
In the very same country in which Biden’s predecessor had practically fallen to his knees before Putin, slavering praise upon him and criticism on the U.S. national security community, Blinken made it clear that America under Biden had completely reversed Trump’s policies. Trump wanted out of NATO. Biden expanded NATO to now include Finland and is very likely to soon include Sweden. Trump had withheld aid from Ukraine. Biden had provided unprecedented financial and material support to Kyiv. Trump was reviled and ridiculed by our allies. Biden was leading a new, energized global coalition.
As Blinken noted, with the NATO flag now flying over Finland, there had taken place “a sea change that would have been unthinkable a little more than a year earlier.” Where Trump advisers fretted over his plans to bolt from NATO, Blinken observed that “President Biden has focused on rebuilding and revitalizing America’s alliances and partnerships, knowing that we’re stronger when we work alongside those who share our interests and our values.”
Putin expected Biden and the U.S. to be weak as it had been under Trump. But as Blinken pointed out, today, “There is no question, Russia is significantly worse off today than it was before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine—militarily, economically, geopolitically.” A core thrust of his remarks was that Russia has already been strategically defeated.
Blinken noted that the U.S. and its allies “have severely degraded Russia’s war machine and defense exports, setting them back for years to come.” He noted the devastating economic damage done to Russia thanks to the resolve of the Biden-led alliance. He observed that standing up strong to Russia sent a strong message to China not to underestimate us again. He also pledged to help rebuild Ukraine so it and the West would in the future be able to deter Russian threats of further aggression.
Perhaps most strikingly, Blinken explicitly rejected the idea that Russia be able to retain the territory it has gained in the course of this war, now in its tenth year. He rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would “simply freeze current lines and (enable) Putin to consolidate control over the territory he seized.”
more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/call-it-the-biden-two-step-how-to-stumble-and-grow-stronger
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