Like Night And Day
What a reception!
This was the near-unanimous reaction this past week to President Joe Biden returning to his ancestral home of Ireland. Biden was received with universal admiration and his farewell speech in Ballina, County Mayo had Uncle Joe beaming with pride for what became the highlight of the trip, which met its apex via a twenty-minute speech in front of nearly 30,000 supportive Irishmen and women:
We talk a lot about how the Biden presidency has been a return to normalcy but while we mostly focus on the domestic end of this, we cannot understate just how important it is for America to once again be seen as a beacon of hope for our allies across the globe. Both Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris have prioritized rebuilding these relationships that Donald Trump and Republicans spent 4 years intentionally tearing down with their America First brand of isolationism. Whether it was to appease Vladimir Putin and weaken the United States' relationship with NATO or simply Trump's complete and utter disdain for accepted social norms, the fact of the matter is that the United States was no longer viewed as the world leader during the Trump Administration. That title fell on Angela Merkel and Germany as the person who had seemingly become the leader of the free world.
But now all that has changed. Joe Biden isn't pushing world leaders out of the way to get to the front of the line at a NATO conference. He isn't sitting with his arms crossed throwing a temper tantrum at the G-7 Conference. He isn't throwing our intelligence agencies under the bus to appease Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Instead Joe Biden is returning to the art of diplomacy, being skillful and truthful about the United States' role in the 21st century. As Biden has frequently said, the United States can and should lead not by the example of our power but by the power of our example. Instead of shaking down Ukraine to get dirt on one's political opponent, we should help them fend of the Russian invasion. Instead of saluting North Korean generals, we should not even bother going there or giving them the time of day. And instead of kowtowing at the altar of Vladimir Putin, we should call out his aggression and organize a global coalition to work to secure the eventual victory for the Ukrainian people.
Don't let the term soft power fool you. Just because weapons are not being used doesn't mean that soft power cannot be effective. What we saw in Ireland last week and what we've continued to see from the Biden-Harris Administration is a concerted effort to reengage our allies and to undo all the damage that happened during the Trump years. In 4 years, Trump never received anything close to the type of reception that Joe Biden received on Friday night and for good reason. Donald Trump simply didn't care about geopolitics. For him everything was transactional. Meet with the Saudis? Great, let's get Jared a $2 billion deal! Meet with the Chinese? Great, let's get Ivanka some new trademarks! Putin wants help for his pal Bashar al-Assad in Syria? Great, let's pull American troops and leave the Kurds to slaughter!
What's ironic is that we millennials were taught growing up that the GOP was the party that would defend American values both at home and abroad. One of the first videos we remember is Ronald Reagan telling Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall! Yet here we are 35 years later and it has been Democratic administrations that have been the shining beacon on the world stage. It has been Democratic administrations that have raised issues of fairness and equality across the globe. It has been Democratic administrations that have understood the importance of international alliances and who have refused to put our military men and women in harm's way unless absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, Republican administrations created a twenty year quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, lost U.S. support amongst the Syrian Kurds for generations, blew up the Iran Nuclear Deal, created copious amounts of anti-American propaganda for North Korea, and embarrassed American leadership on the global stage by being one of only three countries not to be signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement.
America, and by default the world, are simply more secure with Democrats in charge. Soft power matters. Diplomacy matters. Having a battle-tested administration with foreign policy experts matters. What Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing is restoring American leadership across the globe. They're resetting all that was lost during the Trump years and they're building a 21st century iron curtain against those remaining countries who still feel that they can control their citizens through authoritarian rule. The response Joe Biden received in Ireland proves that what he and his administration are doing is working.
And it proves that American soft power once again matters to the world.
But now all that has changed. Joe Biden isn't pushing world leaders out of the way to get to the front of the line at a NATO conference. He isn't sitting with his arms crossed throwing a temper tantrum at the G-7 Conference. He isn't throwing our intelligence agencies under the bus to appease Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Instead Joe Biden is returning to the art of diplomacy, being skillful and truthful about the United States' role in the 21st century. As Biden has frequently said, the United States can and should lead not by the example of our power but by the power of our example. Instead of shaking down Ukraine to get dirt on one's political opponent, we should help them fend of the Russian invasion. Instead of saluting North Korean generals, we should not even bother going there or giving them the time of day. And instead of kowtowing at the altar of Vladimir Putin, we should call out his aggression and organize a global coalition to work to secure the eventual victory for the Ukrainian people.
Don't let the term soft power fool you. Just because weapons are not being used doesn't mean that soft power cannot be effective. What we saw in Ireland last week and what we've continued to see from the Biden-Harris Administration is a concerted effort to reengage our allies and to undo all the damage that happened during the Trump years. In 4 years, Trump never received anything close to the type of reception that Joe Biden received on Friday night and for good reason. Donald Trump simply didn't care about geopolitics. For him everything was transactional. Meet with the Saudis? Great, let's get Jared a $2 billion deal! Meet with the Chinese? Great, let's get Ivanka some new trademarks! Putin wants help for his pal Bashar al-Assad in Syria? Great, let's pull American troops and leave the Kurds to slaughter!
What's ironic is that we millennials were taught growing up that the GOP was the party that would defend American values both at home and abroad. One of the first videos we remember is Ronald Reagan telling Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall! Yet here we are 35 years later and it has been Democratic administrations that have been the shining beacon on the world stage. It has been Democratic administrations that have raised issues of fairness and equality across the globe. It has been Democratic administrations that have understood the importance of international alliances and who have refused to put our military men and women in harm's way unless absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, Republican administrations created a twenty year quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, lost U.S. support amongst the Syrian Kurds for generations, blew up the Iran Nuclear Deal, created copious amounts of anti-American propaganda for North Korea, and embarrassed American leadership on the global stage by being one of only three countries not to be signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement.
America, and by default the world, are simply more secure with Democrats in charge. Soft power matters. Diplomacy matters. Having a battle-tested administration with foreign policy experts matters. What Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing is restoring American leadership across the globe. They're resetting all that was lost during the Trump years and they're building a 21st century iron curtain against those remaining countries who still feel that they can control their citizens through authoritarian rule. The response Joe Biden received in Ireland proves that what he and his administration are doing is working.
And it proves that American soft power once again matters to the world.
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