Author: James Traub
Affiliation: New York University’s Center on International Cooperation
Organization/ Publisher: Foreign Policy
Date/Place: September 14, 2020/USA
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 1501
Link:https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/14/joe-biden-diplomacy-skepticism-actually-listening/
Keywords: US, Biden, Realist
Brief:
In this article, the author tries to answer a set of questions about the personality that will lead the United States of America in the next stage. What are his basic ideas about the world? How is he likely to react in the face of the unexpected? From this standpoint, the writer compares the personality of presidential candidate Joe Biden with a group of former American presidents, such as George W. Bush, and questions Biden’s ability to shoulder the enormous obligations that come with the presidency. In the writer’s opinion, Biden has had a hand in American foreign policy for nearly half a century. And he has the innate pragmatism of the old professional. Biden did not consider American power a malicious force, but rather stupid politics. Biden has a good repository of stories that show him in the face of dictatorships around the world. Biden moved to the right in the wake of 9/11; he supported the war on Iraq, and he voted to give President Bush permission to go to war, which he has made great and utterly disingenuous efforts to hide this record. He is not a fan of anti-American peace nor is he a realistic type. Biden’s campaign is all about values. He pledges to restore “the nation’s spirit” – to make America noble again, and in Biden’s opinion, American national interests do not conflict with the interests of the world. Biden is bound to frustrate progressives who believe that American power cannot be fair. He not only practices politics, but he believes in it as a positive principle, and he possesses a very deep emotional intelligence that makes him an effective strategic planner and executor of American foreign policy.
By: Taqwa Abu Kmeil, CIGA Research Assistant
