Diplomacy 101: F
Honestly, there are tons of things I can pick at right now. Like how the President is recovering and shouldn’t be exposed to people but they flew him to the White House with his ENTIRE family to give his speech last night. Or, how the speech itself never acknowledged his failing health and why he is actually dropping out of the race. Or, the fact the Democratic Party performed an actual coup d’etat and no one has done or said shit about it.
However, today we are going to talk about Diplomacy and how well our current administration is handling that very important role. Put it to you this way, if they were taking a college course called “Diplomacy 101”, they would be failing. That’s the grade for the current administration. F.
To ensure we are all speaking the same language… Diplomacy is defined as “the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations”.
President Biden was adamant last night in his ramblings that he would “focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term” as he bowed out of the race for President. Those duties include diplomacy.
Evidently, that didn’t start until last night because, yesterday, he already failed. Both he and the Vice President. FAILED.
It was bad enough neither of them made themselves available to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu when his plane landed. That is a pretty significant protocol screw up and, frankly, an insult. I am sure President Biden would be livid if he landed in Israel and got the same treatment. Can you imagine how lost he would be, standing on the tarmac at the bottom of the stairs of Air Force One with no one to handhold him?
Then, yesterday, the Prime Minister addressed OUR Congress. He spoke inside OUR Capitol Building and, still, neither the President nor the Vice President were present. We can assume since they screwed up meeting the plane on arrival that protocol wasn’t really a priority, but the Vice President presides over the Senate. She is the President of the Senate, who the Prime Minister was addressing, and she wasn’t there.
Read that last sentence again.
By the way, just for a little added spice, not only did Prime Minister Netanyahu walk in and address our Congress, he did it without so much as a face-to-face handshake with either the President or Vice President beforehand.
Some may say it was a “powerplay” move to let the Prime Minister know who is “in charge”. If you’ve studied diplomacy at all, that isn’t an uncommon tactic. Make the other guy wait, project strength, etc. The current administration hasn’t shown that kind of diplomatic savvy. Ever. I refuse to believe it was planned.
And this isn’t about supporting or endorsing the war in Israel by showing up or not. This isn’t even about deny or opposing that war in the same manner. You could even argue this has nothing to do with the US stance on Israel and Palestine relations. The Vice President should have been in the Capital Building because the leader of a foreign nation was addressing our Congress. It’s her JOB for crying out loud.
Do you know where she was instead? Anyone?
She was in Indiana, speaking to a convention of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. Was this scheduled weeks ago, before she became the most likely Presidential candidate? Yes. Was it scheduled before President Biden was diagnosed with COVID (cough, cough)? Yes. Was this a planned campaign stop? You could argue it wasn’t planned as one, but it damn sure turned into one if you read her remarks.
While the President continues to recover from COVID (cough, cough) and cannot fulfill his duties as the President, the Vice President is supposed to be filling in. It is no exaggeration to say when the President goes under anesthesia, the Vice President is empowered as the acting President. The country takes this stuff pretty seriously. However, Vice President has decided to campaign instead of DOING HER JOB. In this case that means doing her job, AND the job of the President, acting as diplomats for our country. You know, conducting diplomacy.
On a day when the President could have reassured the public he was still up to the job through action, he chose to give a hollow speech instead. Yes, he could have met the Prime Minister to show us he was still capable, but he continues to speak and not act. Fail at diplomacy and FAIL at being the President.
On a day when the Vice President could have reassured the public she was capable of being the President through action, she chose to campaign instead. Yes, she could have met the Prime Minister to show us she could be a diplomat or she could have fulfilled her role as the Vice President by attending his speech in the Capital, but she continues to speak and not act. Fail at diplomacy and FAIL at being the Vice President and FAIL at being the President.
So, we got left with talking heads, who have ZERO authority to speak on behalf of the nation like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Can someone please tell Nancy she ONLY represents her district in California now that she is no longer the Speaker of the House? That’s how it works. She is a representative of her district in the House of Representatives. She is no longer in any position to speak for any part of America outside of her district. But, I digress…..
This administration continues to fail at the single most important task as part of foreign relations and they want you to vote for MORE of it. Another four years of it. Nope. Not me. With a grade like this, after four years of being in office, no way.
You don’t get four more years with a grade like this in Diplomacy 101: F.