BIDEN ABROAD: RESETTING AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

In our October 28, 2019, post one of us saw “repair[ing] our alliances around the world thereby protecting our national security in a way consistent with our values and those of our allies” as a major task of any Democrat elected president in 2020. We’ve consistently emphasized the importance of demonstrating America’s global leadership after the decline caused by the Trump administration’s

dysfunctional foreign policy.  With Joe Biden just back from his first foreign trip as president, now seems a good time for looking at 46’s progress on that task of restoring American preeminence in the world.

 

The Man and His Team

Biden arrived in the White House superbly

qualified for taking on foreign policy challenges. He served as chairman or ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years. Foreign policy comprised a major part of his portfolio during his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president. He’s on a first name basis with many foreign leaders.

Biden picked an experienced foreign policy team. State Secretary Antony Blinken had key foreign

policy jobs in both the Clinton and Obama administrations and served as Democratic staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Defense

Secretary Lloyd Austin, a respected retired four star U.S. Army general, commanded troops in Iraq and led the U.S. Central Command. Jake Sullivan

served on President Obama’s staff and was Biden’s national security advisor as vice president. United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield

worked for 35 years in the State Department.  If experience matters, Biden’s team passes the test.

 

To This Point

Despite raging domestic problems like the covid pandemic, its resulting economic dislocation, and

his agenda on infrastructure, climate, and racial justice, Biden moved quickly on some important foreign policy fronts:

·    Emphasizing alliances – Trump disdained NATO, ridiculed the joint defense aspects of the Atlantic alliance, and managed to have nearly all the major European leaders laughing at him in public at international meetings. Biden has pledged his backing for NATO, most importantly reaffirming the mutual security aspect of the NATO treaty that makes an attack on one NATO member an attack

on all. European leaders like England’s Boris Johnson, Germany’s Angela Merkel, and France’s Emmanuel Macron welcomed the new American president with open arms.

·    Resetting the relationship with Russia – Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both said it wasn’t unpleasant or confrontational, but Biden clearly aimed to let Putin know he won’t find the same coziness and acquiescence he found with Donald Trump.        

·    International organizations and cooperation – Biden put the U.S. back in the Paris Climate Accords, stopped the American withdrawal from the World Health Organization, and returned the

United States to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Participation in these  organizations assures the U. S. a voice on major international issues and helps prevent other nations from taking actions that affect the U.S. when we’ve had no say.

·    Getting out of Afghanistan – Americans of all political persuasions want an end to our military

presence there. We went there in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. We spent $2 trillion. About 240,000 people lost their lives. The only real debate has been over timing of withdrawal. Trump pledged we’d get our remaining 2500 troops out by May 2021. Biden did a review of the situation and announced we’re leaving by September 11. Maybe it’s the right thing to do, maybe it’s not. It apparently will happen with the agreement of most Americans.

·   Fine tuning American policy – Biden has changed many of Trump’s policies, but not all of them. On

China, for example, Biden will  keep in place tariffs Trump imposed and continue diplomatic pressure on the Chinese over alleged atrocities committed against Uyghur Muslims.  In the Middle East, however, he’s resuming financial aid for the Palestinians that

Trump cut off. He’s reaffirmed American support for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, a longstanding U.S. policy Trump essentially abandoned. Biden also ended American backing for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. 

·    Launching a global anti-corruption effort – The Biden administration’s first National Security Study Memorandum established fighting corruption as a core national security interest. The memorandum ordered that federal agencies prioritize efforts at confronting financial crimes. Cybercrimes and “strategic corruption” by foreign entities and governments will receive new attention.    

 

What it Means for Americans

Biden believes ordinary Americans have a stake in foreign policy beyond simple national security. “He’s always seen foreign policy as part of the overall interest process of our country,” says

former defense secretary and Republican  Senator Chuck Hagel, a long-time Biden friend.  “It’s something that is very much a part of who he is ….” International trade, the pandemic, and basic economic concerns motivate Biden. He sees a robust American role in the world as part of his effort to hold on to the working-class voters who helped him get elected. In that sense, Biden’s foreign and domestic policies are bound up with each other.

The G7 meeting and the face-to-face with Putin

represent steps in Biden’s early efforts at returning the U.S. to its premier place in the world. He’s been in office five months. Five  months will

neither undo all the damage Trump did nor accomplish Biden’s long-term objectives. He has made a promising start, and for that Americans can rest a bit easier.

THREE TAKES ON THE BIDEN AGENDA

 President Biden laid out his ambitious agenda in a generally well-received speech to a pared down, socially distant joint session of Congress on April 28. The president apparently has the wind at his back in terms of public support for the measures he’s proposing. Polling indicates voters, including many Republicans, back Biden’s proposals.

That does not mean he has Republican support in Congress. If much of his program becomes law, it will happen because Democrats unify and pass

financially related matters through budget reconciliation. The fate of voting rights and police reform measures, to which reconciliation doesn’t apply, remains doubtful.

Though all three of us count ourselves as supporters of the president and his administration, we don’t have a unified view of all Biden’s proposals.  The differences are sometimes subtle and can turn on political calculations, not substantive policy views:

 

Henry:  All In                                                                   

Biden’s overarching themes hold great appeal for me. I particularly like the fact he has cast his program in terms of creating opportunity out of crisis. The United States still faces the pandemic and the economic fallout it created, not to mention potentially existential

threats in climate change and systemic racism. As Republicans increasingly claim systemic racism doesn’t exist, Biden and other progressives must push for changes in policing and attack economic inequality. These difficult issues offer an opportunity for much needed solutions we’ve put off long enough.

Biden has also struck a chord with me by emphasizing that his plans address the nation’s

need for reality and hope. That means legislation and an administrative approach that tackles problems in

concrete ways and offers Americans hope they can have better futures and an efficient government that works.

As for the individual components of Biden’s legislative agenda, I offer my total support on rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, reforming and revising the corporate tax structure so the wealthy and big business pay their fair share, universal background checks for firearms purchases, an end to so-called ghost guns that law enforcement can’t track, recasting the ways we look at and think of infrastructure, and creating a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants.

President Biden is on the right track and I’m there with him.

Woodson: Congress, Your Move                         

I find little in Biden’s speech with which to disagree. We will have to wait and see how

many of Biden’s policies become law. I hope they all do. These policies are the most progressive since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.   

                                        

Reminding his fellow countrymen that he is a man of action, Biden opened his speech by pointing out that his AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN had already resulted in $1,400.00 checks reaching 85% of American families and 220 million Americans receiving Covid-19 shots. 

Biden elaborated further on his agenda:

AMERICAN JOBS PLAN – jobs in theconstruction of roads, bridges, rails, transit lines, replacing lead pipes in schools and day

care centers, and bringing high speed internet to the entire country. He urged Congress to pass pay equity legislation for women and endorsed $15.00 as an hourly minimum wage.

AMERICAN FAMILIES PLAN – 2 years of quality preschool and 2 years of free community college; $3,600.00 in childcare tax credits; greater investment in black, and tribal colleges.

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN – lower premiums and deductibles for persons who get their medical insurance through the Affordable Care Act; and a reduction in the cost of prescription drugs.

Biden will pay for this with no increase in taxes on the middle class or poor. Only individuals and corporations who make more than $400,000.00 annually will experience a tax increase.

Biden announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan but remained committed to fighting terrorism abroad and at home,

saying that white nationalists were the greatest terrorist threat that the nation faced. He mentioned George Floyd by name when urging Congress to pass legislation to insure equitable policing and urged the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

In my view, Biden got the policies and the politics right. Congress should pass the necessary legislation.

Rob: Consider at Least Tapping the Brakes

                         

I’m generally supportive of the administration’s

agenda. We must address infrastructure and climate. The corporate tax structure requires a  fix even if the federal government didn’t need one additional dime for Biden’s program or anything else. I see raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy as the necessary first step in ending our grotesque income inequality problem.

That’s the primary beef I have with the Bernie Sanders – Elizabeth Warren economic and tax

programs from which Biden has borrowed so  heavily. They propose tax increases for new spending. I propose tax increases because we  need a fairer tax system in which everyone pays their just share. Enacting the

tax increases without as much spending as Biden plans would make us a more equitable society and likely spur an economic revival reminiscent of the Clinton years. Forty-two increased taxes on upper income taxpayers and wiped out the deficit in the process. He presided over modest spending increases, but the main impact of higher tax revenue was holding down interest rates. Government borrowing didn’t absorb capital that became available for businesses, large and small.  We experienced prolonged growth that lasted into the George W. Bush years.

We should do much of what Biden proposes. I’m not interested in giving aid and comfort to obstructionist Republicans by opposing him. If I were a senator, when push came to shove,

I’m  sure I’d vote for his bills. We might, however, consider doing what he wants in bite-sized chunks. Just saying, you know.  

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW ADMINISTRATION’S AGENDA: A LITTLE ADVICE FROM FRIENDS

 

In a month, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. takes the oath of office as the 46^th President of the United States and Kamala Devi Harris the oath as the 49^th Vice President of the United States.  She becomes the first woman to hold either office.

They take over at a difficult, perilous time. A once-in-a-century pandemic rages, accompanied by devastating economic consequences. The country remains politically and racially divided as killings by police of African Americans continue and criminal justice reform remains undone. Climate change poses an existential threat to the entire planet. Biden and Harris have plenty to do and we have some advice for them on their agenda.

COVID, COVID, COVID
Biden has long acknowledged subduing the Coronavirus pandemic would represent his first and most pressing challenge. It’s difficult not to view the leadership void on COVID-19 as the Trump Administration’s greatest failure. As to Biden’s challenge, we recognize that not only did Trump fail through inaction (e.g., never effectively using the Defense Production Act) and lies (“We’re turning the corner.”), he made things worse by poisoning the well with the public in ways that will make Biden’s job more difficult. 

Biden thinks (correctly) we can tamp down the virus through measures like mask wearing and social distancing until vaccines essentially eviscerate the disease. Because of Trump’s politicization of mask wearing and social distancing, Biden will have difficulty getting buy-in on sacrifices that fight the virus in the interregnum between now and widespread vaccine distribution next spring and summer.

By tying vaccine development to his re-election campaign, Trump made some think vaccines now being rolled out were rushed for political purposes. Combine that with a growing, general anti-vax crowd and skepticism about medical researchers based on history in the black community, not as many people may take a vaccine as needed for complete effectiveness.

Biden must enlist every political icon (former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama say they’ll get vaccinated publicly), celebrity, community leader, and trusted religious figure in encouraging vaccination and adherence to the measures still needed for suppressing the virus. Without beating COVID-19, Biden can’t get the economy going. He must push for a new stimulus/relief package from Congress. Yes, we know Mitch McConnell will likely stand in the way, but Biden must make clear to the American people who stands with whom. A president who pushes for what many Americans need so badly could make a difference. Biden can show there remains that thing called the “bully pulpit.” 

Race
At some point, every American president gets an exam question on race. Nearly all fail. Biden has a unique opportunity because, based on the protests last summer, much of the country seems ready to try. The old political barriers remain, but that’s no excuse for inaction. We see several legislative approaches Biden should support and push for:
·    enactment of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (it’s already passed the House);
·    revising many of the actions taken in the 1994 crime bill Biden played a role in passing, emphasizing reducing incarceration for minor drug offenses;
·    limiting criminal and civil immunity in police shooting cases;
·    ending no-knock warrants; and
·    reform measures that would foster increased use of psychologists and social workers, not police officers, in certain domestic situations and other encounters that often lead to police shootings.

State and local governments probably can accomplish more on some of these things, but federal legislation could establish goals and guidelines.

We also think there’s merit in dusting off President Clinton’s “National Conversation on Race” idea. We have an open mind about what form such an effort should take. We know one thing: if we won’t talk about a problem as big, as morally important as this, it won’t ever get solved.

Climate
We’ve written on this a few times, but not enough. We promise we’ll do better. This year – this awful 2020— demonstrated the issue’s importance. Wildfires in the west, storm damage in the middle of the country, and hurricanes and tropical storms in the Southeast and on the Gulf Coast represent the most visible examples of the gravity of the climate change problem.  At least now we have a president who doesn’t deny the science and accepts that not much time remains for addressing the problem.

Biden has taken two steps we heartily endorse. He says he’ll immediately put the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord. This signals the new administration’s seriousness about making America a major participant in anti-climate change efforts. 

Second, Biden has named former State Secretary John Kerry his special climate advisor. Kerry knows this issue well and will sit on the National Security Council since climate change constitutes a national security issue.

We suggest an “all of the above” climate 

approach that advocates multiple ideas. Some special interest will fight every climate proposal. Even corporations professing

support for action on climate change present much different ideas than climate activists. The administration, therefore, should not hang its hat on any one solution. It will lose legal, legislative, and administrative battles, so it needs a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach. We see this problem as so big and so important; Biden must remain creative and push every idea that might do some good.  

       What advice would you offer on the Biden-Harris agenda?