President Biden kicked off his final week in office on Monday with a robust defense of his foreign policy, arguing in a speech that America had grown stronger on his watch.
With just seven days left until he hands over the White House to President-elect Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden hopes to use his remaining time to frame his historical legacy as a transformational leader who bolstered the United States at home and abroad even in just one term.
The effort got underway with a speech at the State Department focused on what he sees as his successes in the international arena. He said that he strengthened U.S. alliances both in Europe in the face of Russian aggression, as well as in the Asian-Pacific amid the rise of China. At the same time, he argued that America’s adversaries — particularly Russia, China and Iran — were all weaker than when he came to office.
“The United States is winning the worldwide competition,” Mr. Biden said. “Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and rivals are weaker.”
The speech was the first this week aimed at presenting the best case for Mr. Biden’s presidency as it comes to an end. He will deliver a broader televised farewell address to the nation in prime time on Wednesday evening, much as many presidents have done. He will also deliver speeches this week on his conservation record and at a farewell ceremony for the commander in chief at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall.
On foreign policy, Mr. Biden has presided over a tumultuous time and Mr. Trump blamed him for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although no U.S. troops are directly involved on the ground in either place. Some critics said the perception of a world aflame and spinning out of Mr. Biden’s control contributed to the erosion of his political popularity at home and ultimately his withdrawal from the election under pressure.
“The fact that Biden is handing the presidency back to his predecessor is in part a reflection of his foreign policy shortcomings,” said Peter Rough, director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to President George W. Bush.
“For most of his time in office, Biden has been on the defensive, first in Ukraine and then in Gaza,” Mr. Rough continued. “The president’s 1990s-era liberal internationalism may have been well intentioned, but it always felt out of step to me with the power politics of the 2020s.”
Still, a new Gallup poll released on Monday showed that America’s standing in Europe has improved strikingly under Mr. Biden. Of 30 NATO allies surveyed, approval of U.S. leadership rose in all but four since 2020, Mr. Trump’s last year in office. Approval ratings rose by double digits in 20 of the 30 countries. In Germany, for instance, approval of U.S. leadership rose from just 6 percent under Mr. Trump to 52 percent under Mr. Biden.
In pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and extricating America from the longest war in its history, Mr. Biden finally accomplished what his two predecessors wanted to but did not. But the chaotic nature of the withdrawal did considerable damage to both his and the country’s standing in the world.
Mr. Biden rallied much of the world to stand up to Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine and reinvigorated NATO after ties frayed under Mr. Trump, even admitting two new members, Sweden and Finland. He steered tens of billions of dollars worth of American arms to Ukraine that helped thwart Moscow’s attempt to take over the country.
But Mr. Biden was criticized from two different directions; some complained he was too reluctant to deliver more powerful weapons to Ukraine for fear of escalating with a nuclear superpower, while others complained that he was investing too much American treasure in someone else’s war. After its initial stunning success, Ukraine’s defense has stalled and Mr. Trump is now promising to end the war with what are expected to be concessions to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The war in Gaza that followed the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the other dominating crisis of Mr. Biden’s tenure. He stood staunchly by Israel and provided weapons for its all-out assault on Hamas, but eventually grew frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel who rebuffed American pressure to do more to curb civilian casualties and relieve humanitarian suffering.
As with Ukraine, Mr. Biden faced criticism from both directions. From one side, he was accused of not doing more to stop the killing of civilians and called “Genocide Joe” at protests. From the other side, he was faulted for putting pressure on Israel to restrain itself in the face of an existential terrorist threat.
But even now, in his final days, Mr. Biden is straining to seal an elusive cease-fire agreement that would end the fighting and result in the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, including a few with American citizenship. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Monday that a deal was still possible by next Monday, when Mr. Trump takes over.
“We are closer than we’ve ever been,” he told MSNBC. “The ball is in Hamas’s court but it’s very close and we are very hopeful that we get it over the finish line, finally, after all this time. We’ve had Lucy-and-the-football moments before, where the ball gets pulled away at the last minute. You can never exclude that. But as I said, we are closer than we’ve ever been.”
