The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
**FEBRUARY 28, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
Putin's War and Biden's Presidency
Will Biden get the credit he deserves for his leadership?
Joe Biden has never been more impressive. I say that with mixed emotion,
because I would rather be celebrating his prowess in getting Build Back
Better through Congress. But you play the hand you are dealt, and Biden
is playing this one exceptionally well.
In a sense, it is small comfort that Biden turns out to be a superb
foreign-policy leader, because the Ukraine War is the most dire threat
to world peace since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and it's far
from clear how it will end. If it does end well, that result will be
much to Biden's credit.
He has been masterful at rallying reluctant Europeans to support
Ukraine, at using release of raw intelligence reports to smoke out
Putin's intent and throwing Putin off balance, and at maximizing the
use of economic weapons to punish Russia's economy and weaken
Putin's domestic support.
In a sense, all this is what the foreign-policy establishment does best.
Containing Russia is in their DNA. Yet this foreign-policy success-if
it does end well-was not the work of Biden's senior staff on
autopilot. It is a credit to Biden's own leadership.
The wild card in all this is of course Putin. Until last week, as he
sent one false signal after another, observers assumed he was crazy like
a fox. Now, it's increasingly clear that he is just plain crazy. A
rational leader would be cutting his losses and looking for a
face-saver. Even if the West offers that, Putin may keep escalating
unless his own generals desert him.
Putin's war also helps Biden in that it deepens the foreign-policy
schism in the Republican Party, which is already badly split in its
responses to the January 6 coup. And it further isolates our domestic
Putin, Donald Trump.
But it's far too soon to say that Biden's astute leadership in this
war could revive his presidency. A Washington Post/ABC poll
finds his approval rating has continued to fall, to just 37 percent, and
that a majority of Americans disapprove of Biden's leadership in every
realm. In fairness, much of this is public frustration with inflation
and COVID; and that poll was taken February 20-24, before the most
recent events. With his war leadership, Biden's approval will probably
rebound.
But for now, there is a wide gap between how knowledgeable experts view
Biden's leadership and his standing among ordinary people. Part of
this is his delivery-he has behaved like a superb leader, but he
seldom talks like one.
At Tuesday's State of the Union address, Biden will have more genuine
bipartisan support than he has ever enjoyed. Trump liked to dismiss
Biden as Sleepy Joe. Let's hope our president gets some coaching, and
that we all get Forceful Joe. There is so much riding on it.
****
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.Â
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
[link removed]
[link removed]
Won't Drill Baby Won't Drill
Don't expect domestic fracking companies and the Wall Street investors
getting rich off them to fill any gap in Russian petrochemicals. BY
DAVID DAYEN
[link removed] A
Justice for a Progressive Future
What really matters is how Ketanji Brown Jackson can help turn
American law in a more progressive direction decades from now. BY ERWIN
CHEMERINSKY
[link removed]
Two-Faced Anti-Unionism
At Starbucks,
REI, and The New York Times, management insists it's not
anti-union-while waging anti-union campaigns. BY STEVEN GREENHOUSE
[link removed]
Â
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
The American Prospect, Inc.
1225 I Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States
Copyright (c) 2022 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
.
