Opinion by David Mark
6 minute read
Published 6:12 PM EDT, Fri October 20, 2023
Recent Democratic presidents have sought reelection by limiting overt campaigning and instead making sure they’re seen focusing on the nuts and bolts of their job. President Bill Clinton, in his successful 1996 reelection bid, spent the late months of his campaign negotiating legislative deals with a Republican-majority Congress. And President Barack Obama, in late October 2012, took time off the campaign trail in his ultimately winning bid to lead the federal response to Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast.
A bit over a year out from Election Day 2024, President Joe Biden is taking a similar approach, by dint of a morbid and tragic pair of international crises. By taking a lightning-fast visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday after a similar wartime visit to Ukraine a few months earlier, and making a primetime appeal to American voters Thursday to support both Israel and Ukraine in their wars against evil forces, Biden is reaping political dividends by playing the statesman.
Biden’s efforts stand out even more than usual since his likely 2024 Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, has been clumsy and ineffective in trying to insert himself into these news events, as when he praised Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon, in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel. At the same time, the Republicans in office are in disarray as an increasingly embarrassing Republican leadership struggle in the House has paralyzed Capitol Hill.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/opinions/israel-gaza-biden-ukraine-russia-mark/index.html