(Washington) Joe Biden, whose 2024 campaign could do with a new lease of life, sees in the chaos of the Republican Party an opportunity to strengthen his presidential stature, but will he be able to stay above the fray if the Is aid to Ukraine faltering?
“He just needs to show that he is a strong president and let the Republican bloodbath continue.” Since he can’t do anything about it, he might as well let the Democratic camp take advantage of it,” analyzes Robert Rowland, professor at the University of Kansas and expert in political communication.
Tuesday, while a stunned America witnessed for the first time the impeachment of a leader of the House of Representatives, the Democratic president did not show up.
His only comment, after Kevin McCarthy was ousted at the initiative of a small group of hard-right elected officials, came in a statement from his spokesperson.
“As the urgent challenges of our country cannot wait, (the president) hopes that the House will quickly elect a new leader,” indicated Karine Jean-Pierre.
Drugs and student debt
Adding: “The American people deserve leaders who are fully dedicated to the issues that affect their lives, as President Biden did today.”
The White House announced in the morning that it had convinced major American laboratories to negotiate the exorbitant price of certain drugs.
On Wednesday, the American executive continued, imperturbably, this strategy that it favors: the “split screen”, the double screen, with on one side the achievements of the 80-year-old Democrat, on the other the actions of Trumpist elected officials .
Joe Biden must speak today on new student debt relief measures, a subject dear to the Democrat who hopes, despite his age, to convince American youth to vote for him next year.
On Monday, he summoned his secretaries to the White House, an opportunity to appear, again, very presidential. In the United States, unlike France and Canada for example, the council of secretaries does not meet on a regular basis.
By placing himself above the fray, however, the American president must “ensure that he always appears confident and robust,” warns Robert Rowland.
He recalls that in public opinion, former President Donald Trump, also in the running for 2024, “appears much stronger and in better health” than Joe Biden.
The expert would therefore advise the president to “stick” to his message, without indulging in the unfortunate oral improvisations that he has always been accustomed to.
So far, the White House insists that the paralysis which has gripped one of the chambers of the American Congress is not its problem.
Whether it is finding a new “speaker” to lead the institution, or negotiating a new budget – the federal state otherwise risks running out of funding on November 17 – Joe Biden has decided to not get involved, betting that the Republican Party would suffer all the political consequences.
” Some months ”
But will this strategy remain tenable if the United States faces a prolonged federal budgetary paralysis, likely to derail the economy? And especially if the American Congress proves incapable of releasing additional funds to help Ukraine?
On Wednesday, the president assured several allied leaders that Washington would stand with Kyiv “as long as it takes.”
Joe Biden even recently resurrected a term dear to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: that of “indispensable nation”, to describe America as the ultimate guardian of international order and democracy.
But behind the solemn assertions, the Biden administration is aware of the threat to all Western support for Ukraine, should the leading provider of military assistance falter.
“It is hard to believe that there would be this level of international support […] without the role of the United States,” noted National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday.
He warned that without an extension passed by Congress, American assistance to Ukraine would be exhausted in “a few months.”