Biden Celebrates His “Accomplishments” in the Waning Days of His Presidency

These past few weeks, Pres. Biden has touted so-called successes of his Administration.  The first involved his speech at the United Nations in which he highlighted his purportedly successful use of diplomacy to strengthen global democracy.  The second involved how, he argues, his Administration has reduced crime while seeking, as always, to limit the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.  In both instances, I shook my head and wondered if he still had a grasp of reality.

(I think Biden’s touting of his “accomplishments” could not come at a worse time for VP Kamala Harris as Biden publicly claims ‘she was the last person in the room’ on all of his major decisions, as she desperately tries to deny the last four years—and the numerous disasters and policy failures in which she played a central role.)

First, in his final address to the United Nations, Biden endeavored to underscore how his Administration’s foreign policy had ensured “the center has held.”  What center, I thought. and held, how?  Our nation and the world are both increasingly chaotic and the possibility of both a recession and economic collapse, as well as a regional conflict becoming a world war is more likely now than it’s been since World War II.

As the Wall Street Journal reports “the latest evidence … is that Iran is helping to broker the delivery of Russian antiship missiles to the Houthis in Yemen.”  Specifically, “Iran is engaged in secret talks to help the Houthis obtain advanced Yakhont missiles … from Moscow.  These would help the terrorist group more precisely target commercial ships in the Red Sea, complementing the large ballistic and cruise-missile inventory the group has fielded from Iran.” (WSJ, 9-26-2024).  This development simply highlights “the utter failure of American deterrence against the Houthis and Iran … as the Houthis keep firing at merchant ships in the Red Sea.” (WSJ). 

Weakness invites aggression and the Biden Administration response has been the “equivalent of strongly worded letters—small missile strikes on Houthi launchers that do no lasting damage to the group’s ability to hold shipping hostage.”  This “U.S. passivity” has done nothing but encourage “a growing regional conflict.” (WSJ). 

Speaking of growing regional conflicts, let’s look at the state of world affairs.  WSJ concludes by noting “the Iran-Russia cooperation underscores the extent to which these regional powers are becoming a global menace.  China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are working as a de facto axis, arming, and assisting each other to threaten their neighbors and spread mayhem.  NATO has called China a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Russia is helping Iran sow chaos in the Middle East.” (WSJ, Id.)

Second, in a similarly disconnected manner Biden seeks credit for supposedly reducing domestic crime while also seeking to limit gun rights.   By use of an executive order, Biden and VP Harris supposedly aim to “reduce gun violence,” referencing school shootings, with Biden stating that “guns are the number one—hard to believe—they’re the number one killer of children in America.  More than any other cause—accidents—more than any other cause.  It’s almost unbelievable – it’s sick.”  Biden said. 

Well, firstly, the number one killer of children in America is abortion.  Second, school shootings are far more attributable to the moral and cultural cesspool in which young people find themselves today than the availability of guns.  Guns have always been available, but we certainly never had the school shootings we have today.  Biden’s analysis also ignores the killing fields of major American cities that defund and hamstring the police while Leftist DAs coddle criminals, all the while threatening law abiding citizens for wanting to arm themselves and protect their families.

Gun-rights advocates responded that “Biden’s executive orders are an effort to distract from his poor record when it comes to reducing crime in major metropolitan cities. … It’s just one more attempt by the Biden-Harris Administration to deflect attention from their soft-on-crime policies that have emboldened criminals in our country,” said Randy Kozuch, NRA Director. (A. Schemmel, Fox News, September 26, 2024).

Pres. Biden was shoved aside in his reelection bid in the most undemocratic fashion I have seen in my life.  As a result, he may be seeking ways to make himself appear relevant in the final weeks of his presidency.  However, these two examples reflect a perspective that is completely divorced from the actual state of American and world affairs.