Would President Joe Biden be able to handle an escalation in the Russo-Ukraine War?
The question speaks both to the potential for the ongoing conflagration to expand and engulf new participants, and to the uncertainty surrounding Biden’s abilities to operate as Commander-in-Chief (especially given his age).
So, how likely is it that the United States gets involved in Ukraine? And if the United States did get involved, how would Biden fare?
The United States in Ukraine?
So far, the US has wisely exercised restraint with respect to Ukraine. Despite calls to assist more directly in Ukraine’s defense, the US has kept their troops out of the conflict. To be clear, for the US to intervene more directly would be disastrous for multiple reasons. One, the US gains very little from participating in the defense of Ukraine; preserving territory in eastern Ukraine just doesn’t mean too much to American interests. Two, the ongoing conflict is heinously bloody and US troops have no business being involved. What is happening in Ukraine is not worth American lives. Three, the US is a nuclear power and Russia is a nuclear power.
Given Russia’s inability to secure territory in Ukraine through conventional means, it seems Russia has limited conventional capabilities, which would arguably make Russia more likely to resort to using its robust nuclear capabilities in a conflict against a more powerful, or nuclear-armed, adversary. Ukrainian territory is not worth nuclear war.
Hopefully, the US (despite its tendency to intervene aggressively) can continue to restrain itself. But wha if the US did intervene? Would President Joe Biden be up to the task?
Biden in Ukraine?
The primary concern with Biden (a concern that transcends party lines) is that the guy is just too old to be president.
Joe Biden, who at 80-years-old, is already the oldest serving president ever. And reportedly, Biden has strictly limited his working hours; he won’t work mornings, evenings, or weekends.
Meaning, for the sake of preserving his limited, octogenarian energy supply, Biden is working something like a 35-hour week. That’s unusual for a job with a history of turning its occupants grey in real-time.
If an escalation occurred in Ukraine, drawing the US into the conflict, Biden would probably need to work a few evenings and weekends – which could wear him down rather quickly.
But assuming Biden had the physical energy to guide the United States through a conflict in Ukraine, does he have the foreign policy, or Commander-in-Chief, talents?
That’s hard to say. It’s kind of like speculating whether a college quarterback is going to be a competent NFL quarterback. You’re not gonna know until you throw him under center in an NFL game.
Biden, thankfully, is untested in quarterbacking a large-scale US conflict, so it’s hard to say how he would perform. Granted, Biden helmed the last several months of the war in Afghanistan, but I don’t think that qualifies as a comparable experience.
But with respect to Biden’s oversight of Afghanistan, I will say that although Biden took a lot of heat for the jumbled logistics of the US exit, Biden was impressive in committing to the exit itself. A string of US presidents had promised to leave Afghanistan and failed to do so. Biden, on the other hand, actually made it happen and in doing so, ended America’s longest ever war.
So, maybe Biden has some war-time quarterbacking talent after all.
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Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
