Grading the Biden Team’s Foreign Policy

The Net Assessment crew assesses President Joe Biden’s foreign
policy in his administration’s first year. There appear to have
been more failures than successes, and Chris, Melanie, and Zack
debated why that might be. But, as Frank Gavin explains in the
lead essay at the Texas National Security Review, a bit of
perspective is in order. Crafting and executing foreign policy is
difficult, even for a seasoned hand like Biden. To the extent
that the promise of his approach to the world hasn’t lived up to
reality, how much of that can be tied to his vision (is there
one?), how much to poor execution, and how much to other factors
over which the president has no control?


Zack is annoyed with all the talk of a looming civil war in the
United States, and Melanie gripes about the New York
Times’ coverage of a transplant patient who was the
recipient of a pig’s heart. Chris (with an assist from Melanie)
faults newly-inaugurated Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin for
wanting to make it easier to spend taxpayer money on a new
stadium for the Washington Football Team. Attaboys to one of the
first Tuskegee Airman, Gen. Charles McGee, who passed away at the
age of 102, and to Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota for standing
up to Trump.


 


Links: 


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Frank Gavin, “How Are They doing?” Texas National Security
Review, Vol. 5, Iss. 1, Winter 2021/2022. 


Mike Sweeney, “NATO, Diplomacy, and the Ukraine Crisis,” Wavell
Room, Jan. 10, 2022. 


David Leonhardt and Ashley Wu, “Good Morning. We look at
Omicron’s toll in New York and Seattle, two cities with timely
data,” The Morning, New York Times, Jan. 11, 2022. 


Daniel W. Drezner, “The Policy Gap in the
Indo-Pacific,” Washington Post, Jan. 12, 2022. 


Anjali Dayal, Alexandra Stark, and Megan A. Stewart, “Warnings of
‘Civil War’ Risk Harming Efforts Against Political
Violence,” War on the Rocks, Jan. 18,
2022, https://warontherocks.com/2022/01/warnings-of-civil-war-risk-harming-efforts-against-political-violence/. 


Harrison Smith, “Charles McGee, Tuskegee Airman who fought in
three wars, dies at 102,” Washington Post, Jan. 17,
2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/01/17/charles-mcgee-tuskegee-airman-dead/.


Alex Tabarrok, Twitter, January 13, 2022.


Mary Clare Jalonik, “Rounds Dismisses Trump Criticism for Saying
He Lost Election,” Associated Press, Jan. 10, 2022. 


Richard Fontaine, “Washington's Missing China Strategy,” Foreign
Affairs, Jan. 14, 2022.