New York magazine wondered aloud about the success of President Donald Trump in achieving a peace deal in the Middle East while the Biden administration was an utter failure in that regard. That puzzlement was reflected in the title of Ross Barkan's Tuesday Intelligencer section column, "How Did Trump Get a Peace Deal Done Where Biden Could Not?"
Barkin struggles with the idea of Trump's success by denigrating him as merely a transactional deal maker in the real estate mode as well as being primarily motivated by a desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, such mockery is to be expected in the liberal New York magazine but what really stands out is also Barkan's criticism of Biden and his administration which is not merely harsh but downright brutal.
Before we go to the absolutely delicious takedown of Biden & Co., let us get his critique of Trump out of the way. Keep in mind such criticism of Trump is actually mild compared what he observes about Biden:
Gaza is now smoldering rubble; the peace plan being enacted does not change this bare fact. There is blood, gobs of it, on the hands of President Donald Trump.
But even his harshest critics must concede that he was able (if many months too late) to accomplish what Joe Biden never would or could: bring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to heel.
...In Trump’s first term, he had moved the American embassy to Jerusalem and never, for a moment, offered any serious resistance to Netanyahu or Israel. The occupation of the West Bank continued apace and Gaza suffered in the shadows.
Trump, however, has always been a transactional president when it comes to foreign governments. His beliefs are never held entirely firm; he views diplomacy like New York real estate, with deals to be had and favors to be traded. Trump is nothing like the peacemaker his fervent allies and supporters believe him to be—the military-industrial complex looms large across Earth, and Trump is currently carrying out extrajudicial killings in Venezuelan waters—but he is not, like past Republican presidents, a neoconservative who is eager for fresh conflict.
...Trump still defers far too much to Netanyahu, but he began to grow impatient in the last few months. The war in Gaza wasn’t benefiting Trump politically. He had become interested in winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and sometimes venal self-interest can do a little good. Without such a laurel dangling in front of Trump, he might not have tried so hard.
Okay, we got the pretty much expected New York magazine critique of Trump out of the way. Transactional real estate deal maker with a Nobel Prize "dangling in front" of him as a big motivator. However, now we come to Barkan's attack on the Biden administration which will quickly make readers forget his criticisms of Trump which, in retrospect, will seem quite mild.
Still, a stark question facing Democrats is why the Biden administration could not achieve a version of this agreement during the entirety of 2024. Jake Sullivan and Antony Blinken, the architects of Biden’s foreign policy, must answer for their failure.
More crucially, though, Democrats must consider why Biden himself could not do more. One discomforting possibility is that the elderly president simply wasn’t mentally fit enough to conduct aggressive foreign policy. Biden’s capacity was much diminished—this was apparent as early as 2022, though most Democrats pretended otherwise—and it’s in the foreign arena where an executive’s weakness is most felt. Domestically, presidents can farm out a good deal of governing to advisers, cabinet members, and congressional leaders. Top Biden aides like Ron Klain and Jeff Zients could effectively serve as shadow presidents, working in concert with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Abroad, the president as an individual matters much more. If Biden himself cannot cajole or threaten Netanyahu, his aides can only do so much.
This does not absolve Blinken, Biden’s Secretary of State, or Sullivan, Biden’s National Security Adviser. There’s little evidence to suggest they were ever willing to pressure Netanyahu and force him to pull back.
And now for Barkan's final brutal slap in the face of poor helpless (and hopeless) Joe Biden.
Biden had a chance to wrench history in a different direction and failed. If he is cognizant at all of the events over the last week, he should feel regret and shame.
OUCH!!!