President Joe Biden delivered his final address as president to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, and it was a masterpiece of narcissistic myth-making. It was a speech of hollow boasts that couldn’t have been delivered at a worse time, as America is increasingly disregarded and disrespected around the world by enemies and allies alike.
Casting himself as a great defender of democracy worldwide, Biden tried to turn the coup that removed him as the leader of his own party into an act of historic self-sacrifice.
“This summer,” he observed, “I faced a decision whether to seek a second term as president. It was a difficult decision. Being president has been the honor of my life. There’s so much more I want to get done. But as much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward. My fellow leaders, let us never forget that some things are more important than staying in power.”
What?
Everyone knows Biden did not quit voluntarily. He was forced out. His love of the country is not bigger than his ego. He did not cherish the understanding that “some things are more important than staying in power.”
Instead, he quit because he was told by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), former House speaker, that his exit could be done the easy way or the hard way and that he would face a brutal, open revolt if he failed to step aside. Until that point, Biden refused to quit. He clung to power with his weakening fingernails, and he and the first lady showed repeated outrage at any suggestion that he step down.
Biden called on the U.N. delegations to “stand behind the principles that united us” and “stand firm against aggression.”
If only Biden had a record of standing firm against aggression.
He failed to confront Iran. By tolerating repeated attacks on American troops by Iranian-directed militias in Iraq, Biden meekly allowed hundreds of Americans to be wounded and some to be killed. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took Biden’s passivity as a green light for maximum troublemaking. Iran continues to plot the assassinations of the U.S. military officials it blames for the January 2020 killing of its terrorist mastermind, Qassem Soleimani, and it continues to support the Houthis as it wreaks havoc on international civilian shipping.
Iran’s other proxies have also capitalized on Biden’s weakness. While he whines about robust Israeli military action against Hezbollah, Israel is tearing the leadership guts out of Iran’s proxy terrorist organization. Iran and Hezbollah have taken Israel’s assault without major retaliation because they know they could not withstand a major war with Israel. It would undermine their hold on power and jeopardize Iran’s nuclear program. Israel is showing Iran that it has the resolve and ability to counter aggression. If only Biden had not, in fact, rather than merely in rhetoric.
Nor is Biden standing firm against America’s most ambitious and capable adversary: China.
China is waging a highly aggressive campaign of harassment against the Philippines, a U.S. treaty defense ally. Using ramming, water cannons, lasers, and boarding operations, the Chinese Coast Guard is strangling the Philippines’ ability to operate in its own exclusive economic zone. It’s part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s broader plan to turn most of the international waters of the South China Sea into its own maritime possession.
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If Xi succeeds, he’ll be able to extract political obedience from Pacific nations and those who wish to pass through these trade lanes. Xi will secure a major victory on the path toward the Chinese Communist Party’s goal of global domination. Yet Biden seems to pretend it isn’t happening. U.S. military operations near unjustly claimed Chinese reefs are rare and not conducted by the best U.S. warships. The U.S. Navy is nowhere to be seen as the Philippines struggles to defend its sovereign interests.
Historians will not look back on Biden’s presidency as one of bold leadership, as he pretended to the U.N.