Biden faces trouble at home on his return from Europe

With the last nine words of an impassioned speech on the aggression of Russia on UkrainePresident Joe Biden created a troubling distraction, undermining his effectiveness at a time when he has returned to the United States to deal with restless Americans who strongly disapprove of his performance on issues that are of great importance to them.

His comment outside of the written speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power” — a statement his advisers were forced to quickly clarify — overshadowed his overall message of consolidating the Western coalition facing Moscow.

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It marked yet another frustrating moment for an administration that has struggled to regain its footing — and the support of the American electorate — amid an ongoing pandemic, rising inflation and an escalating foreign policy crisis that has raised the specter of a nuclear war.

Although he has forged a united front to punish Russia with sanctions over Ukraine’s invasion, polls show Americans feel no better about his leadership at a time when the bloody war continues. Democrats, meanwhile, are at risk of losing control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, leaving Biden with limited opportunities to advance a domestic progressive agenda that remains stalled.

The president is poised to secure the confirmation of the first black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the U.S. Supreme Court, but there is no clear path forward for him to deliver on other campaign promises around voting rights, reform to the criminal justice system and the fight against climate change. Although polls show that Jackson has broad support from the population, this has not helped to improve Biden’s position among voters with less than eight months to go before the midterm elections, which the Republicans intend to make look like a referendum. on the president’s performance.

The White House has been forced to devote much of its messages to the war in Russia, but Biden will seek to place some of its national priorities in the spotlight this week.

He is scheduled to present a new budget proposal on Monday, which includes a renewed focus on reducing the federal deficit and a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthiest sector of the population.

If passed by Congress, which is far from a done deal, families with assets over $100 million — a measure of their wealth, not their income — would have to pay a minimum tax of 20% of their income. .

The additional earnings could help keep the deficit in check and fund some of Biden’s national priorities, including expanding entitlement programs. So far, there is little or no evidence of Republican support for the measure, and even some Democrats have shown little enthusiasm for the idea.

The president’s popularity ratings do not help his cause. Just 34% of Americans believe Biden is doing a good job on the economy, which is often the top issue for voters in an election year, according to a poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public. AffairsResearch.

His controversial statement about Putin in his speech in Warsaw didn’t help either. The White House was quick to clarify that Biden He wasn’t calling for “regime change,” but by the next day it was clear that his sweeping statement had caused some of the first cracks in unity among the NATO nations that have just gathered in Brussels for a summit. emergency.

Some of America’s main allies in Western Europe, including France and Germany, are often more cautious than Washington about how to confront Russia. Until Saturday night Biden He had timed his words carefully. French President Emanuel Macron said that the statements of Biden could make it difficult to resolve the conflict.

”I would not use those terms, because I am still talking to President Putin. Because what do we want to do collectively?” he asked. “We want to stop the war that Russia launched in Ukraine without going to war and without escalating it.”Biden he has enjoyed unusual bipartisan support for his handling of the crisis in Ukraine. But some Republicans who have generally supported his position on the crisis took him to task for his comments.

Senator James Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dryly declared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday: “Please, Mr. President, don’t go off script.”

For his part, Republican Senator Rob Portman told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the latest comment from Biden “It falls in with pearls to the Russian propagandists and to Vladimir Putin.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was forced to further clarify the words of Biden during a trip to the Middle East, where his goal was to focus on entrenching US alliances at a time when the administration seeks to reach a renewed nuclear deal with Iran.

At a press conference in Jerusalem, Blinken said that Biden he meant that “Putin should not be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else.”

Even when Biden seemed to go too far for some allies with his speech, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not seem to be very comforted by him. He accused Western nations of lacking the courage to confront Russia, criticizing “their shifting responsibility over who and how should provide fighter jets” and other weapons to the Ukrainian military.

The speech in Warsaw was the third, and by far the most consequential, of the occasions on his tour in which collaborators of Biden they had to intervene to clarify their comments.

During a news conference in Brussels on Thursday, he said the United States would respond “proportionally” if Putin used chemical weapons in Ukraine. The next day, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the president meant “we will respond accordingly,” not that Washington would use chemical weapons.

And then, while speaking with soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division who were recently deployed to Poland, Biden seemed to hint that they would go to the Ukraine. Speaking about the value of the Ukrainians, the president declared: “Look how they are responding. And you will see it when you are there.”

Later, the White House reiterated that Biden He has no intention of deploying troops in Ukraine, something the president himself has insisted on since the conflict began.

While campaigning two years ago, Biden He repeatedly told voters that “a president’s words do matter,” promising that his foreign policy experience would be of benefit to the country on the international stage.

There’s no doubt Biden has been able to maintain an unusual unity among the allies during this war. But by speaking with more passion than caution — particularly during his speech in Warsaw — the president also reminded Americans of his propensity for inaccurate statements at a difficult time in his presidency.

Only 26% of Americans trust that Biden capable of handling a crisis or the military, according to last week’s AP-NORC poll. There has also been a mixed response regarding the position of Biden around Russia. Although Americans are reluctant to involve the country in another foreign crisis, they have also watched in horror as Putin continues to devastate Ukrainian cities despite a series of tough sanctions.

Only 36% stated that the position of Biden has been “more or less correct” while 56% say that the president has not been tough enough with Russia.

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Source: Elcomercio

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