The incoming president of the United States, Joe Biden, has repeated a phrase since he won the elections in November: “The United States is back.”
This is a message directed both to the rest of the planet as well as to the interior of their country.
At a global level, their declared intention is for Washington to “lead the world” again after the outgoing president, Donald Trump, withdrew the US from international agreements, strained old alliances and weakened multilateral organizations.
Domestically, Biden intends to bury times of polarization and conflict that characterized the Trump administration, with the also declared purpose of “healing” and “unifying” the country.
Any of those goals by itself looks ambitious. But raising them simultaneously is a daunting task.
USA was shaken by the attack on the Capitol, politically fractured, decimated by a covid pandemic – 19 who has killed more than 400. 00 0 people, punished by a colossal economic crisis and questioned by his allies.
So, can Biden repair America’s unity and credibility after the Trump era?
opportunity ”
It seems clear that to regain Washington’s leadership on the international board, Biden should first achieve some order at home.
Otherwise, everything will be even more arduous for the Democrat.
Which countries would follow a power shaken by several crises at the same time? How many rulers can a president incapable of leading in his own country persuade?
However, some experts believe that the current US context may allow Biden advance his agenda inside with an efficiency unthinkable a short time ago.
It is not just that the coronavirus crises and the economy pose urgency for the government to act.
Biden plans, for example, to promote a stimulus and aid plan for US $ 1 , 9 billion with the majority it will have in both houses of Congress.
In addition, Trump has lost part of his political capital by avoiding acknowledging Biden’s triumph, denouncing electoral fraud without presenting evidence, and especially after a mob of his followers invaded Congress on January 6.
The Republican Party goes to the opposition divided between those who distance themselves from Trump and those who still support him.
“ Biden has the opportunity to attract a broader spectrum of Americans than on November 4, the day after the election. Trump, by behaving so badly, has given the incoming president a gift, or at least a chance. And now we will see how he takes advantage of it, ”says William Galston, a US domestic policy expert at the Brookings Institution who advised former President Bill Clinton.
“It will be very difficult for Biden to unite the country, but not impossible. Behind the obvious disagreements are underlying agreements in the American people about what needs to be done … Different polls indicate that many Americans want a middle ground, more commitment, more practical progress ”, Galston tells BBC Mundo.
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Some believe that the right person is Biden, a moderate Democrat who was vice president of Barack Obama after accumulating years of experience in the Senate and who has sought to avoid political polarization.
But the truth is that reducing the enormous political, economic and racial cracks in the US will require the commitment of much more than one person, even if this is the president.
A different world
Biden also has vast experience in international politics, from his past on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his eight years as Obama’s second.
In addition, the incoming president has chosen Obama administration veterans to key foreign policy positions, including Antony Blinken as secretary of state and John Kerry, who served in that position in the past, as special envoy for the climate.
However, different experts warn that today’s world is different from that of four years ago.
On the one hand, China has gained greater geopolitical weight. On the other hand, the US under Trump seems to have lost all reminiscence of its “exceptionalism” or idea of a beacon of liberal democracy in the world, especially after the attack on the Capitol.
“It will be enormously difficult for President Biden to restore the luster and confidence in US global leadership.” , warns Stewart Patrick, program director for International Institutions and Global Governance at The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR, for its acronym in English), a think tank based in New York.
In his opinion, Biden will have national policy limits to advance foreign cooperation . And the two radical changes of course that the US had in four years, with the elections of 2016 and 2020, may raise doubts in old allies about the country’s credibility.
Biden promised to return to the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the nuclear pact with Iran, from the that Trump withdrew from the US during his presidency.
But in recent days the Trump administration has further complicated the foreign agenda of his successor.
The secretary of Outgoing state, Mike Pompeo, argued for example without offering clear evidence that Iran is a new base of operations for Al Qaeda, and included Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, after Obama removed it in 2015.
Some analysts warn that Biden will have to adapt to internal restrictions and
“In these circumstances, the best that can be expected is for Joe Biden to address the role of the US in the world with greater humility and recognize that the days of the unquestionable global leadership of the US are over, “Patrick tells BBC Mundo.
” USA. you need to feel comfortable as a more normal great power, ”he adds,“ and be prepared to (and insist on) sharing global leadership, particularly with like-minded allies in Europe and Asia who broadly share your vision of an open world. ”
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