Discussion: World Leaders Urge Biden To Run, Craving A Prez With Respect For Foreign Affairs

I know there are a lot of Biden critics out there, and I get it. I really do. But this is the thing that makes me lean his direction. I love Beto, Buttigeg, Warren, etc., but to me a President that has respect from the world stage is huge.

18 Likes

See:
Former Secretary of State Clinton
That experience and $8.50 will get you a coffee at Starbucks

11 Likes

Some of the senators running — like Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — have served on committees with global
purviews, but none have had major foreign policy achievements

Did Obama?

5 Likes

Russia encouraged Trump to run too. What did that get us?

4 Likes

Yeah, Israel respected Biden so much that they humiliated him by announcing 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem during his visit there.
https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/03/israel-humiliates-biden/189509/

7 Likes

This seems absurd. Any president with some basic respect for other countries and experts on foreign affairs may serve. If Biden is the only choice, who’s next after he retires? When will other people get a chance to establish relationship with world leaders?

2 Likes

I thought it was illegal for foreign nationals to be involved with our elections.

4 Likes

Since russia, Saudi Arabia, and others assisted tRUmp…

why can’t other foreign countries help pick our next president too, surely repubes would have no qualms about that unless only IOKIYAR applies (which we all know is the truth)

2 Likes

Israel, like Iowa, garner an out sized level of fealty in American politics. It so extreme that it should be classed a mental disorder.

6 Likes

Maybe not but he did have Biden.

3 Likes

Indirectly. While he was in the Senate, he worked with Sam Nunn on making sure nuclear weapons were secure in the former Soviet republics.

2 Likes

That one is on Israel, not Biden. The Republicans also gave their PM an opportunity to spew his anti-American raciest trash talk in a Joint Session of Congress. The behavior of the current Government Israel should not be used as evidence of poor preference of an American public policy maker.

4 Likes

Umm this is a truly piss poor analogy. There is no comparison between the negative baggage Hillary was hauling around and Biden. Nor is there the same visceral dislike of Hillary. Biden is well liked by almost everybody. Now whether that translates into him being elected? I don’t know. I would have voted for Joe in a heartbeat last time, but now like Bernie I think he is just too damn old. And I say this as a 70 year old man.

4 Likes

Amid the current field, Biden’s foreign affairs experience stands out. He has unrivaled relationships with world leaders, and has had his hand in major foreign policy decisions during the Obama administration.

It has been a long time since the pot and Gaulloises smoke filled era when I spent a semester reading Gyorgy Lukacs. And I refuse to look it up on Google or Wikipedia to confirm anything but the current spelling of his name.

But this rather long sentence is, I think, a huge and most quintessential example of the precise definition of what Lukacs called Reification. Which means the author of the article pulled the conclusion that Joe Biden has any real or significant Foreign Affairs experience out of thin air, and then reaffirmed it to herself in the same sentence. And thus the readers are gaslighted and left with the implication and conclusion that Joe Biden has significant Foreign Affairs experience.

Ok. I am going to go into Manhattan to see if I can find an buy a pack of Gaulloises. Then dig out my old black turtleneck and see if it might still fit.

2 Likes

Amid the current field, Biden’s foreign affairs experience stands out. He has unrivaled relationships with world leaders, and has had his hand in major foreign policy decisions during the Obama administration.

I honestly can’t argue with this. This area may be his strongest suit. He is respected across the globe. More importantly, he is trusted by world leaders across the globe. T rumpp is a wrecking ball in the world stage. Biden could be very useful in repairing that damage.

Still, domestically, he has too many caveats in his record for me to fully support him as a candidate for POTUS. I do respect a lot of his record, but there are a couple of deal breakers in there. Maybe he should be appointed as the US Ambassador to the UN. I think he’d do very well in that position.

2 Likes

Every one of the announced Democratic candidates with the exception of Tulsi Gabbard have respect for traditional alliances, and while they may not have a lot of experience in foreign affairs, they know enough to pick people who do have that experience.

8 Likes

Extensive foreign policy expertise and treating our allies like allies wasn’t a concern back in '08.

2 Likes

Once elected, a new, younger democrat could also command respect from the world stage. Obama is now widely respected yet in '08 he was barely known.

4 Likes

Compared to Donald Trump, AOC has significant foreign affairs experience (meaning that a two month congressperson has more experience in the field). That is not a meaningful bar. Joe Biden’s foreign affairs experience was limited to being walked all over by and repeatedly kicked in the ass, in public, in full view of day, by Republicans on the joint congressional investigation into the Iran-Contra Scandal.

3 Likes