Biden risks undermining America’s moral authority

Joe Biden is facing what will likely be the defining event of his presidency. The gains made in Afghanistan are evaporating in record time under his watch. But Biden doesn’t want to be a foreign policy president. He wants to be the man who ended wars, taking credit for America’s Covid recovery, funnelling trillions of dollars into infrastructure and education while the Federal Reserve’s printing presses are warmed up and there’s still appetite to spend. But like his Democrat predecessor — and the man whom he served as vice president — he has been dealt a different hand.

President Obama was loath to see the atrocities taking place in Syria distract from his domestic agenda (which he wanted to be defined by healthcare reform). This explains why Obama failed to act when Bashar al-Assad crossed the US president’s clearly defined ‘red lines’, using chemical weapons on the Syrian people. As Obama found out, inaction has consequences.