President Joe Biden speaks as if he is leading the nation through a period akin to that of the late 1940s, when statesmen like Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, and George Marshall forged the Pax Americana through force of will and daring endeavor. “From the earliest days of my presidency, I have argued that our world is at an inflection point,” Biden wrote in the introduction to his administration’s National Security Strategy. “How we respond to the tremendous challenges and the unprecedented opportunities we face today will determine the direction of our world and impact the security and prosperity of the American people for generations to come.” But although he talks a big game, the president is barely responding to those challenges and opportunities. And thanks to this mismatch between action and rhetoric, this inflection point is becoming a perilous cliff, with America teetering at the edge of disaster.
It is a truism that China is the only bipartisan issue in Washington today. Policy-makers have come to recognize that it poses the most serious threat to global order, political liberalism, and the security of American shores. This threat calls for action. Yet, Biden leads like Bill Clinton traipsing his way through an era of unparalleled American global dominance and economic prosperity. And he’s not alone. He is following a decade-long, bipartisan Washington approach manifested in both elected branches of the federal government.
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