At first, we’d thought this was a Jen Rubin column for the Washington Post — it certainly sounds like one. The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer is bound to get the coveted Ron Klain retweet for this one, in which he claims President Joe Biden is handling the Ukraine crisis better than any other president could. We’ve already had Lincoln Project advisor Stuart Stevens saying that this is a moment Biden “has prepared for his entire life.”
We’re not quite getting it. As soon as he took office, Biden handed the Russians the Nord Stream II pipeline. And he delayed sanctioning Russian oil imports until the Republicans tricked him into doing it. But Foer says we need to give Biden credit where credit is due; after all, he’s sort of stayed out of it and let France and Germany take the heat.
Credit where credit is due: It’s hard to imagine another President handling this crisis better than Biden. https://t.co/tkkLP3uYqq
— Franklin Foer (@FranklinFoer) March 8, 2022
Seriously, Biden gets credit for doing nothing:
Joe Biden hasn’t received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis, because he has pursued a policy of self-effacement. Rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. By carefully limiting his own public role—and letting France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz take turns as the lead faces of NATO—he has left Vladimir Putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the United States, a narrative that the Russian leader would clearly prefer. He’s shown how to wield American leadership in the face of deep European ambivalence about its exercise.
If there was anyone who was finally shaming Europe into stepping up and ponying up their share to fund NATO, it was Donald Trump. The same Donald Trump whose sanctions on the Nord Stream II pipeline were wiped away by Biden.
Recommended
— Ryan 🌻 (@alwaysonoffense) March 8, 2022
You need a brain scan.
— J.G. Petruna (@jgpetruna) March 8, 2022
LMAO 🤣
— Muddy Locker Sports Trading (@MuddyLocker1) March 8, 2022
Remember when President Biden suggested that a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine would be tolerated?
— J.P. Freire (@JPFreire) March 8, 2022
They “clarified” that one pretty quickly.
— George Wept (@GeorgeWept) March 8, 2022
— . (@FLC0502) March 8, 2022
Are you serious????
— jade (@jadedatlife) March 8, 2022
*hands you a gold trophy for this*
Just kidding. It's a pile of dog crap.
But I figured you're fine with being told complete shit is valuable.— WheelmanForHire (@WheelmanForHire) March 8, 2022
He had the advantage of causing it.
— Demand can be a force majeure (@filthyanalyst) March 8, 2022
Trump just teed up the invasion and Vladimir Putin waited until Biden was in office to pull the trigger.
Afghanistan pullout
— Az-Tech (@aztekman) March 8, 2022
Even Carter didn't screw up this bad.
— Stuart (@Ringo6) March 8, 2022
Are you freakin high?
— Coleby 🦅 (@c_rwest) March 8, 2022
My god.
— Chris (@ChrisJNFL) March 8, 2022
Except perhaps the other 44 Presidents. Ok, maybe excluding Carter. So, 43 other presidents. Final answer.
— Don Keigh 🇺🇸 (@trixareforlibs) March 8, 2022
Wow. Please continue to believe this. And make this your narrative for the next 8 months.
— keg (@TexasGus) March 8, 2022
— G_Mann (@GMann_19) March 8, 2022
Which part is Biden doing best? Begging Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for oil? Granting Iran full sanctions relief for oil?
— Mike McD (@MickGMick) March 8, 2022
Another president wouldn’t have been in this crisis.
— Max Murray (@MaxMurrayShow) March 8, 2022
Putin certainly didn’t see the Biden administration as a barrier to invading Ukraine or he would have waited it out.
* * *
Update:
And just as we called it, here’s the Ronald Klain retweet:
When things get tough…https://t.co/nEvr7UzKkn
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) March 8, 2022
Related:
Lincoln Project advisor explains that President Joe Biden is ‘very methodically saving the world’ https://t.co/goP7z8wfr0
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 8, 2022
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