Andrew McCarthy is absolutely correct in his observation that “the Biden administration postponed Blinken’s trip because the press began reporting that the spy balloon entered into American air space.” And he is correct that “the administration had every intention of . . . having Blinken go to China to project the illusion of thawing U.S.-China relations.”
But I think McCarthy buries the lede when he concludes that had the balloon “not been noticed by enough members of the public that it was reported by the press, the American secretary of state would be gladhanding in Beijing today even as China’s surveillance aircraft was lolling over our homeland and defense facilities.” Can it possibly be the case that no one in the White House or the State Department or the National Security Council recognized the very real possibility that the balloon would be seen widely and reported while Blinken was in Beijing? What would the administration have done then?
Amazingly, it appears that this political danger escaped attention, even though it was obvious, immediate, and far from trivial. This continues a pattern: The administration does not or cannot see beyond the daily news cycle, shunting aside obvious looming problems with substantial likelihoods of creating headaches in the not-too-distant future. Release crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a futile attempt to moderate gasoline prices? What will happen to prices when the SPR has to be replenished? Take no action when Salman Rushdie is attacked on American soil as a manifestation of Iranian policy? What perverse incentives does that strengthen? Ignore the overwhelming evidence from Europe on the costs of unconventional energy? What will happen here if we continue to pursue the same path?
Etc. All administrations are driven by the news cycle toward varying degrees of myopia, but it is clear that the Biden administration is in a class by itself in this context. This condition carries deeply perverse implications for policy-making and the wellbeing of Americans, a reality that the press seems not to recognize. Elections have consequences indeed.