During NATO’s 75 years, it has usually been the European member-states looking to the US to protect them. But, at the alliance’s annual summit in Washington this week, it was US President Joe Biden who hoped NATO would save him.
Facing growing pressure from within the Democratic Party not to seek re-election after a disastrous TV debate against Donald Trump, Biden hoped that a strong performance at the carefully stage-managed summit would fend off his critics.
Leaders and officials from NATO’s 32 member-states – plus NATO’s Asia-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – arrived in the US capital at the same time as members of Congress returned, with the sweltering early summer temperatures and gridlocked traffic stoking an atmosphere of oppressive political intrigue.
While the official proceedings of the NATO Summit passed smoothly, in the city’s hotels, cafes and bars the unofficial diplomatic chatter was all about Biden’s prospects of survival. In the first instance, the 81-year-old is betting that too few of the many anonymous detractors in his party will dare to come out publicly against him, for fear that wielding the knife will secure them a place in infamy. Then, he is betting that he can beat Donald Trump in November’s election, even as polling data continues to move against him and doubts about his health intensify.
For many US allies visiting Washington, the unedifying spectacle of an ageing, obstinate president at war with elements of his party undermined the mutual public back-slapping about the strength of the alliance system.
In a defiant interview with ABC News last week, Biden vowed that only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to step down from the re-election battle, given that, as he keeps reminding the world, he is the most qualified person to be president.
While god is yet to intervene in the debate, actor George Clooney did come out against his friend Biden in a New York Times guest essay, as the NATO Summit got underway, arguing that Biden could not beat Trump because he was too old. Although he has played a doctor in ER and a specialist in firing under-performing employees in Up in the Air, it was Clooney’s status as a major Democratic Party donor that grabbed the attention.
Having studiously avoided as many unscripted media conferences as possible, Biden came out at the end of the NATO Summit to face a combative press pack, aware that he must fight harder to keep his place on the Democratic ticket. His knowledgeable but sometimes stuttering performance was a Rorschach test, with his opponents and supporters both finding evidence for their respective, contradictory arguments.
Biden may have bought himself some more time, as he attempts to run down the clock on his critics. But for many US allies visiting Washington, the unedifying spectacle of an ageing, obstinate president at war with elements of his party undermined the mutual public back-slapping about the strength of the alliance system. There is a growing fear outside as well as inside America that Biden cannot beat Trump, who with a second term would be highly problematic for US allies and US credibility, putting it mildly.
Beyond the outcome of the upcoming election, the longer-term worry is that the poor choice of presidential candidates is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in America.
Yet, although US allies fret about the possible return of Trump and the trajectory of US politics, few seem prepared to navigate a world without US leadership on security and other global issues. So, like Biden and his Democratic opponents, they will have to keep on sweating for a while longer.
