The expression may have become synonymous with the foreign policy of President Barack Obama, but the 44th president’s apprentice has now exceeded the master. And the description now fits like a glove on Obama’s understudy.
Leading from behind. Translated into civilian speak, that means saying you are in charge while hiding behind nations you should be leading. It’s beyond counterintuitive, a rationale for cowardice. Like threatening to punch someone while a crowd stands between you and your supposed victim. And for Joe Biden, an unmistakable pattern of “leading from behind” actually proceeds to an even more apt familiar expression.
A day late and a dollar short. Consider the number of times in just over a year of his presidency that Biden was caught behind the curve, unable — or unwilling — to foresee a looming crisis and then reacting too late to effect an acceptable outcome.
Start with Ukraine, where this president could have led NATO in instituting a no-fly zone in the many months before Vladimir Putin invaded. Were the intentions of the Russian strongman not obvious as he steadily amassed almost 200,000 troops along the Ukrainian border, starting just weeks after Biden took office? The 40-mile-long convoy of Russian hardware headed for Kyiv appears as one long sitting duck that could certainly be destroyed from above. A no-fly edict would have made Putin think much longer and harder about his invasion, but all Biden did was predict the invasion and then pretend he put together the coalition to come to the aid of Ukraine.
This president also could have pulled the plug on Russian oil imports, which, of course, would be easier to do if not for his cowardly surrender to environmental extremists and the consequent war on the fossil fuel industry. That war, of course, short-circuited our newfound energy independence, led to ever higher prices at the pump, and forced Biden to beg foreign oil suppliers like Saudi Arabia to step up production — or watch gas prices reach or exceed exorbitant levels that will lead to an even worse slaughter than expected in November’s elections. Such a predictable outcome, but apparently not to Biden.
Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The question now being asked in the White House, according to an American official speaking with The New York Times, is: “Tell me how we don’t get sucked into a superpower conflict?” And as that question is now frighteningly on the table, does either this president or his deer-in-the-headlights Secretary of State Antony Blinken give you confidence in his ability to see beyond today?
In Afghanistan, even unseasoned observers — but not Biden — could figure out that, if you remove your military presence and close your vital airbase before an onslaught by the fanatical Taliban, the withdrawal would lead to disaster. And the outcome was so humiliating and calamitous — hundreds killed, more than $80 billion in military hardware forfeited, in excess of 200 Americans remaining trapped behind enemy lines at last count — that it almost certainly encouraged Putin to proceed with his latest barbaric attempt to rebuild the Soviet empire.
At the same time, no thought was evidently given to the lingering effect almost $2 trillion of federal largesse known as the American Rescue Plan would have on the economy, or whether providing yet another round of taxpayer-funded paychecks would actually aid an economy already on the rebound. That is, until inflation began spiraling upward, and businesses everywhere were unable to find enough workers — even after the virtual quarantine the whole nation was forced into for over a year. As always, Biden was a day late and a dollar short, although in this case we might say a dollar long.
Similarly, the administration seemed almost unaware of the supply chain crisis until it was on top of them — and us. So now, we see gaps in product availability and delivery never experienced before the pandemic. Grocery prices soar, but Biden blames “big meat,” big oil, big pharma, and other biggies, which apparently have suddenly decided collectively to rip off the American people at a level beyond what anyone could imagine. Nice try.
Trashing every Trump border policy was the most obvious setup for disaster faced by this president. Everyone could see that, if you refuse to place any value on national borders and cave to the open border crowd, as Biden so willingly did in his presidential campaign and now in his administration, the floodgates would open and illegal crossings would increase exponentially. And that is exactly what has happened. So Biden, after creating the most insecure border in our lifetime, is reduced to quietly reinstituting Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy. That will at least stanch the bleeding and stop some illegals before they get to experience our infamous catch-and-release policy, which is a whole lot more release than it is catch. But despite his policies that have resulted in a flood of illegals dispersed across the land — many on secret planes in the dark of night, we have discovered — Biden laughably calls for “securing the border” in his State of the Union address.
This president was also complicit in encouraging the criminal marauders in the 2020 summer from hell, when a crime wave across urban America brought a pandemic-riddled nation to its knees. Now, after police departments have been gutted and billions of dollars in property damage was piled on top of hundreds of injured cops and more than two dozen deaths, now he insults decent people by calling three times for “funding the police” in the SOTU. Never a better example of a day late and a dollar short, in a desperate 180 obviously motivated strictly by impending midterm elections.
Sometimes, a small, insignificant moment exemplifies a much larger issue. A recent phone call provided a textbook example of this defining characteristic of the Biden presidency. In calling to renew a prescription from the pharmacy, we received a message on hold that said: “Coming soon, N95 masks!” — weeks after the Omicron variant had peaked and mask mandates were lifting.
The 46th president of the United States is either dimwitted, unable to foresee a developing crisis for lack of gray matter, or so lacking in the type of foresight and courage demanded of presidents that he is only able to react when it is too late. As inflation rages, prices soar, the border remains fluid at best, overmatched and underfunded police departments struggle to maintain order, the likelihood of China moving on Taiwan grows with each passing day, while the West is consumed by the war in Ukraine. We will likely soon witness what the Chinese have sought for decades: an end to an independent Taiwan and a reunified China, stronger than ever. All of these crises, domestic and foreign, can be traced to the legacy being steadily constructed by President Joe Biden: a day late and a dollar short.
~ Read more from Tim Donner.
