Barack Obama’s prescient warning about Joe Biden is so well known it’s practically a cliché.
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to screw things up,” the former president said of his vice president.
That remark, made as Biden moved closer to the Democrats’ 2020 nomination, served as a convenient explanation for his otherwise inexplicable habit of grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.
The deadly and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Biden’s decision to open the southern border without a plan to handle the millions of illegal migrants are just two of many life-altering decisions that have made his term a byword for failure.
A common thread is that his debacles were unforced errors.
Doing nothing would have produced much better results than the actions he took.
But the outgoing president’s latest moves suggest a reconsideration is warranted.
It’s because Obama himself underestimated Biden’s ability to screw everything up.
The proof is the current and most scandalous madness of the president, which could have the worst possible consequences.
This one could set the world on fire.
With his relentless criticism of Israel and now his threat to cut off munitions supplies in the midst of war, Biden is triggering a series of global repercussions.
And all because he is terrified of losing the election to Donald Trump.
There are three ways to evaluate Biden’s actions.
Who do they hurt, who do they help, and what is the reward for his campaign?
Catastrophic timeline
Of course, Israel suffers the most harmful consequences.
Because he is locked in an existential conflict with Hamas, Biden has chosen a terrible time to gut his promise of “ironclad” support for the Jewish state.
Coming just days after he used a Holocaust commemoration event to passionately link the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to the horrors of Nazi Germany, Biden’s sudden military freeze recalls a Jekyll and Hyde personality .
If the freeze ends Israel’s plan to eliminate Hamas, it will guarantee more Islamic terrorism and a new war, leading to more civilian casualties on both sides.
But Biden’s “fk up” doesn’t stop there. It also simultaneously undermines America’s relationships with other allies who have new reason to fear being next on its target list.
Can Saudi Arabia really trust an administration that has ruthlessly undermined America’s closest ally?
Should European allies fear that they, too, will somehow come up against a White House that treats its enemies better than its friends?
Then there is Ukraine, which has another reason to worry, while Russia and China must be happy to see American weakness at work.
Meanwhile, Hamas immediately takes advantage of the freeze.
Biden’s past efforts to force Israel to protect, feed and care for Gaza’s civilians have already rewarded Hamas’ strategy of using its fellow Arabs as human shields.
No army can simultaneously protect its own soldiers, fight an integrated terrorist force and also take care of the civilian population behind which the enemy hides.
It is now clear that the impossibility of Biden’s straitjacket was the whole point.
By imposing unreasonable demands on Israel and threatening to abandon it if it does not comply, Biden hopes to end what is a war of self-defense for Israel.
Its months-long campaign of criticism convinced the terrorist group that time was on its side and played a role in its refusal to seriously negotiate the release of Israeli and American hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.
And now Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas butchers are once again being rewarded by Biden’s withholding of munitions needed for the Israeli advance toward Rafah, the group’s last stronghold.
Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told reporters that “by declaring open season on Israel,” Biden “created an American diplomatic iron dome for Hamas.”
Iran also benefits greatly from the freeze.
Flush with cash, thanks to Biden’s lifting of oil sanctions and the payment of billions of dollars in ransoms to the hostages, the murderous mullahs have effectively been given the green light to continue their campaign to target Israel and attempt to oust the Middle East America.
Tehran capitalizes
The first evidence of an emboldened Iran comes in the form of Hezbollah’s intensified rocket fire from Lebanon, leading Israel’s defense minister to warn of a “hot summer” along the the northern border of his country.
Additionally, the Houthis have renewed attacks on international cargo ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, steps they would not take without Iran’s blessing.
Shamefully, Biden is apparently willing to accept the first two consequences of his betrayal of Israel if it brings him increased domestic support for his campaign.
Distancing himself from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was intended to win over anti-Semitic, keffiyeh-wearing students and American Muslim voters, particularly in key states in the Upper Midwest.
So far, the bet has been a failure. Mostly Democrats, these resisters know that their pressure is changing American policy, but they have not rewarded Biden for their support.
As the New York Times said after interviewing Muslim activists, the about-face on Israel amounts to “too little, too late.”
“The president’s announcement is extremely anticipated and horribly insufficient,” Abbas Alawieh, an Arab-American protest leader in Michigan, told the Times.
“He must speak out against this war. Period. That would be important.
This would indeed be significant – and tragic for Israel and America. Yet Biden continues.
The only good news is that his war strategy ends up alarming some Democrats, with dissidents rightly accusing the president of endangering Israel.
Twenty-six House Democrats, led by Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, warned the White House that the arms freeze was contributing to the “agenda of chaos, brutality and hatred” of Iran’s proxies for terrorism, and issued an agreement to hostages even more difficult to conclude.
Some Democratic megadonors are also unhappy, with Hollywood mogul Haim Saban going all out in a memo to his campaign aides.
“Let us not forget that there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters who care about Hamas,” Saban wrote.
“Bad, bad, bad decision across the board,” he added, according to Axios.
This is all true and obvious. Yet Biden remains unmoved by evidence that he is playing with fire by appeasing America’s enemies and punishing its friends.
What a disaster.
Schu’s silent treatment
Reader John Farrell taps into a common emotion, writing: “I find it astonishing that Chuck Schumer is nowhere to be seen while Joe Biden leaves Israel out to dry. I am an Irish Catholic grandfather and have seven grandchildren, four of whom grew up Jewish. I am proud to publicly take a stand in favor of the Jews. »
“It’s the least our Jewish senator from New York should do. He’s not, Braveheart.
. . . and nada de Nadler, Goldman
Reader Allan Tannenbaum makes a similar complaint about other Jewish lawmakers, writing: “Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman have been almost completely silent on the pro-Hamas mobs at universities and in the streets, and now they remain silent about Biden’s betrayal of Israel. .”
New York Post
