Commentary: Biden Should Spend Next Three Years Focused on Democracy – By A.B. Stoddard (Real Clear Politics) / February 28, 2022
Everything has changed. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t just want two regions in eastern Ukraine after all. And he doesn’t just want Ukraine. Putin wants to dismantle the rules-based, post-World War II international order that delivered an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity to Europe.
Whatever Joe Biden signed up for as a candidate, then nominee, and finally U.S. president, is gone. That battle to restore the soul of America, the plans to dramatically alter the social safety net, that is over. With little remaining political capital, Biden must still work to contain a pandemic and manage the economy, but he has a different job now, with challenges that neither he nor his party envisioned or preferred.
Stabilizing democracy at home and abroad, using his time and energy to combat indifference to threats to freedom among Americans, while countering authoritarian forces overseas – this is the best use of the presidential bully pulpit and Biden’s best hope for a legacy.
