What Should President Joe Biden Do after His First Year in Office?

Today, US President Joe Biden marks his first year in office.

After pledging to unite the nation at his inauguration, President Biden has turned around the isolationist policies of the Trump Administration returning to the Paris Agreement, restoring US-European relations, working with Japan, India and Australia on QUAD, and forming AUKUS with the UK and Australia.

These initiatives implied the return of the US to the international society.

However, the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 allowed the Taliban to regain power and now the country is back under its control. This shows the inadequacy of the Biden Administration's assessment of the situation.

The inconsistency of diplomatic policies towards China and Russia, with its mix of conciliatory and hard-line measures, which shows that diplomacy is a place of concessions and compromises. At the same time, it also raises doubts about the ability of President Biden who has always claimed to be good at diplomacy.

The $2 trillion tax and spending bill that is at the core of his administration's economic agenda has not been enacted to date because he has been unable to unite the Republicans and the Democrats.

Furthermore, there is no sign that the divisions in American society are mending over the COVID-19 measures.

The fact that not only the Republicans, who are clearly hostile to the Biden Administration, but also the Democrats, who are supposed to support the President, are opposed to it, suggests that President Biden lacks leadership as a party politician.

Thus, the Biden Administration, which started out with high hopes, now faces a situation in which disapproval outweighs support.

But there are still three years left in his term. And with no strong Democratic successor in sight, President Biden himself has expressed a desire to run for a second term.

So Mr. Biden needs to demonstrate by his actions that he is willing and ready to be a strong leader who can unite people and the country.

And if he fails to do so at this stage, it might be an undesirable situation not just for the US but for the international society.

〈要旨〉

政権発足から1年を迎えたジョー・バイデン大統領は何をなすべきか

2022年1月20日、米国のジョー・バイデン大統領が就任から1年を迎えた。当初の高い支持は、与党民主党の意見の不一致による政策の停滞や対外政策の一貫性のなさなどにより低迷を余儀なくされている。今回、われわれはバイデン大統領が取り組むべき課題が何であるかを検討した。