A few days before Donald Trump comes to power, Joe Biden ends his last week in office full of gestures. It’s about his final legacy – but his foreign policy is judged ambivalently.
US President Joe Biden’s final week in office has begun, and it is full of symbolism. Although the 82-year-old has been politically active at least since his withdrawal from the election campaign last year lame duck (lame duck), these remaining days should once again make him appear as a powerful incumbent. After all, it’s about his political legacy.
The Commander-in-Chief announced in a statement on Monday what names the American Navy’s two new nuclear-powered aircraft carriers should be given. According to the wishes of the outgoing Democrat in the White House, they should be launched as “USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush” after completion. According to plans, this should happen in 2034.
“When I personally broke the news to Bill and George, they were deeply moved,” Biden wrote in his official statement. Because, like himself, both of them knew firsthand what responsibility the office of commander-in-chief entails. Aircraft carriers are traditionally named after former US presidents. The USS George HW Bush, USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Gerald R. Ford already exist, among others. Biden, however, named a new spy submarine, also nuclear-powered, after the recently deceased Jimmy Carter.
Before Joe Biden gives his big farewell speech to the nation on Wednesday, his last week in office will be dominated by foreign and security policy. The President also went to the State Department on Monday. With a short speech he said goodbye to a total of tens of thousands of employees. Applause erupted as Biden stepped to the microphone and said: “When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he would conquer Kiev within days. But the truth is that since the beginning of the war, I have been the only one in the center of Kiev stood, not him. Putin was never there.”
There was something defiant about this final performance and the applause. In the past four years, the US State Department and Biden’s foreign and security policy have often been criticized. No other ministry was so challenged during this term. Everything had to be coordinated here – from the withdrawal from Afghanistan to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine to the terror of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran against Israel and its war in the Gaza Strip. There was also the diplomacy marathon at the United Nations. And mistakes happened again and again.
Public pressure continued to increase during this time. Despite some foreign policy successes, it was often the failures that continue to cast a shadow over Biden’s presidency to this day. Barack Obama’s former vice president fulfilled a deep longing for Americans during his own term in office: US soldiers withdrew from the Hindu Kush after two decades of war. But the deadly chaos that accompanied the transfer of power to the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, shocked the world. 13 soldiers died and the greatest military superpower was once again disgraced in its history.
Since Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine, Joe Biden has always tried to show how successfully he has brought together 50 allied states, “not only in Europe, but for the first time in Asia” in a large alliance. The expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland is also one of the successes of his presidency. But the US President did not prevent Putin’s invasion. When Joe Biden spoke to the Kremlin chief at a summit in Geneva in June 2021, it didn’t help. A few months later, Putin’s tanks rolled into Kyiv. And his war continues to this day – with an uncertain outcome.