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Opinion: A good week for Biden, a bad week for the world

Opinion by David Mark
6 minute read
Published 6:12 PM EDT, Fri October 20, 2023

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Biden on why funding Israel and Ukraine matters to Americans
03:21 - Source: CNN
Editor's Note: David Mark is a political journalist, author and public speaker. He is the author of "Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning" and co-author of "Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes: Decoding the Jargon Slang and Bluster of American Political Speech." The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

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Recent Democratic presidents have sought reelection by limiting overt campaigning and instead making sure they're seen focusing on the nuts and bolts of their job. President Bill Clinton, in his successful 1996 reelection bid, spent the late months of his campaign negotiating legislative deals with a Republican-majority Congress. And President Barack Obama, in late October 2012, took time off the campaign trail in his ultimately winning bid to lead the federal response to Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast.

David Mark
David Mark
Courtesy David Mark
A bit over a year out from Election Day 2024, President Joe Biden is taking a similar approach, by dint of a morbid and tragic pair of international crises. By taking a lightning-fast visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday after a similar wartime visit to Ukraine a few months earlier, and making a primetime appeal to American voters Thursday to support both Israel and Ukraine in their wars against evil forces, Biden is reaping political dividends by playing the statesman.

Biden's efforts stand out even more than usual since his likely 2024 Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, has been clumsy and ineffective in trying to insert himself into these news events, as when he praised Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon, in the wake of Hamas' attack on Israel. At the same time, the Republicans in office are in disarray as an increasingly embarrassing Republican leadership struggle in the House has paralyzed Capitol Hill.

Biden, in contrast, appears capable and steadfast. For 20 months, he has been a stalwart defender of Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia. And for nearly two weeks Biden demonstrated steely support for Israel as the Middle East's only democracy responds to Hamas' October 7 attacks that claimed some 1,400 lives, among then 32 Americans. He noted during his TV address that his quick trip to Israel is the first of an American president to the country during war-time, while his touchdown in Ukraine in February was the first time a US president entered a warzone not controlled by the US.

Whatever effect they have on the diplomatic front, Biden's Israel trip and Thursday night prime time television address can only help his reelection efforts at this point, especially if he faces Trump. Both show a confident, experienced commander-in-chief projecting gravitas and a deep knowledge of history, having made official visits to Israel going back to 1973 as a freshman senator from Delaware.

President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Opinion: The price tag that comes with Biden's trip to Israel
Biden made the long journey despite predictable criticism that he's tilted too far in Israel's direction at the expense of the Palestinians. Arab allies who he'd hoped to meet with instead snubbed him, and Muslim protesters have taken to the streets in cities around the world in opposition to Israel and its American backers.

Many observers also said he didn't achieve much, but in Biden's roughly seven-and-a-half hour Israel visit Wednesday, in which he met government officials, first responders and families of terror victims, among others, he was able to secure his two main goals: to reassure the Israeli public he stood with them and against terrorists, giving them strength for the fight as well as space to demand concessions if needed. And he also hammered out a limited plan for getting humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt for civilians effectively trapped in the small territory, which will hopefully serve as a template for more to come.