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Replies to post #214335 on Just Politics
05/01/24 9:43 AM
Recognizing the subjectivity associated with grading a president, I would give the Biden administration a B+ in its national security record (similar to my assessment in the fall of 2022 in an earlier paper). Its overall approach to both Russia and China has been fairly strong. Its policies toward other crucial issues with enduring relevance to national security—North Korea, Iran, terrorism, fentanyl, climate, the national debt, and thus long-term national power—are more mixed. (I do not attempt a broader assessment of all aspects of Biden’s foreign policy here but focus on those of greatest relevance to the nation’s safety—that is, national security in a specific and literal sense.) My verdict is that the Biden administration’s national security policy may not be sensational, but it has been generally solid on the biggest and most consequential issues.
Of course, in a larger sense there is no such thing as a Biden foreign policy record—rather, there is an American foreign policy record during the time of the Biden-Harris administration. Congress’s role has been crucial in shaping defense budgets, Ukraine aid packages, border policy, and many other things, as well as broader fiscal policy. Thus, assessing Biden’s role in policymaking requires a certain amount of interpretation of the respective roles of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and indeed other parts of American society. Congress has been particularly difficult to work with during the Biden years, given the influence of a small Freedom Caucus, and thus mostly beyond Biden’s realistic control or influence. Thus, if grading his foreign policy on a curve, I push it up to an A- from a B+.
05/29/24 1:06 PM
