Biden heads overseas ‘with the wind at his back’ following midterm elections
Christian Datoc
Video Embed
President Joe Biden is flying high heading into a weeklong trip to North Africa and Asia, buoyed by Democrats’ election night success and a strong inflation report.
Biden is slated to depart overnight Thursday for Egypt, where he will attend Cop 27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. From Egypt, he will travel to Cambodia, where he will attend the 2022 ASEAN and East Asia summits, then Indonesia for the G-20 Summit in Bali before returning to Washington on Nov. 17.
BIDEN VOWS TO ‘WORK WITH ANYONE’ ON INFLATION AFTER CPI FALLS IN OCTOBER
Democratic officials tell the Washington Examiner that Biden’s big week at home will help reassure allies that the “normalcy” Biden is seeking to return U.S. international relations is not in jeopardy.
Two officials noted that Russia’s retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, announced the day after the election, could likely be attributed to Biden and Democrats’ overperformance on Tuesday and will affirm the president’s position heading into a week of climate and economic meetings with foreign leaders.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Thursday morning that the yearly inflation fell to 7.7% in October, which Democrats suggest Biden could use to rally support for a coordinated response to Russia’s war on Ukraine and even broad climate-based proposals.
Also, Biden appears to have gained negotiating strength with congressional Republicans. The Senate remains too close to call, given the runoff election in Georgia between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Senatorial candidate Herschel Walker (R). Meanwhile, though Democrats are looking at losing their House majority, the expected Republican margin will be significantly smaller than final forecasts predicted, prompting the president to offer Republicans an opportunity to “cooperate” on fighting inflation and aiding Ukraine.
“I will work with anyone — Democrat or Republican — on ideas to provide more breathing room to middle-class and working families,” he wrote Thursday morning. “I will oppose any effort to undo my agenda or to make inflation worse. We are on the right path — we need to keep moving forward to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to reporters Thursday about how Biden’s trip “comes at an important moment” as the president is heading “off with the wind at his back.”
“The United States has helped rally the world to oppose Russian aggression in Ukraine. We have built a strong foundation of engagement with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific. We’ve launched impactful new initiatives in the Indo-Pacific including PGI and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. We’re leading collective efforts on climate health, food, and energy security, and we’ve made far-reaching foundational investments in our industrial and innovation base, and in modernizing our infrastructure here at home,” he claimed. “So we believe that we are in a strong position to both navigate competition and to work with partners to solve the great challenges of our time. That’s what President Biden intends to do on this trip.”
Biden himself has seemed pleased in public since the election.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“For months and months, all you heard from the press and the pundits was that Democrats are facing disaster. Remember that? All those polls, all those polls, God love them,” the president stated during a Democratic National Committee event Thursday afternoon. “Historic losses are on the way, a giant red wave. Folks, that didn’t happen.”
And on Wednesday, pressed about how he intends to change public sentiment showing that, even after Tuesday’s big night, a majority of the country doesn’t want him to seek a second term in office, Biden responded simply, “watch me.”