For Biden to lead abroad, he must fix democracy at home

For Biden to lead abroad, he must fix democracy at home

President Joe Biden faces daunting global crises from Russia’s threat to Ukraine, China’s more aggressive military posture, and Iran’s rising nuclear capabilities, but the United States confronts another threat to global democracy at home that has steadily undermined America’s capacity to project U.S. power, policies, and moral leadership abroad.

The self-inflicted wounds of a divided electorate, a former president making baseless claims about election fraud, and his cult of followers who attacked the U.S. Capitol a year ago on Jan. 6 all hamper America’s ability to lead effectively, deter enemies, and reassure allies. Autocratic regimes believe their dictatorial governments are far stronger and more effective than America’s sputtering republic.

This is America’s moment, and 2022 may decide not just whether U.S. voters can keep that republic, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, but also whether America remains a beacon of democracy for the world. Today, the clock is ticking, and many Americans wonder if our constitutional republic can last another 1,000 days.

For the United States to succeed abroad, it must fix its democracy at home. Biden will have to galvanize voters this year during the midterm election campaigns to fight a wave of voter suppression laws being passed in state legislatures, many of them aimed at making it more difficult for people to vote.

This anti-democratic movement is deeply damaging to U.S. credibility in promoting global democracy. This country has fallen in world rankings for political rights and civil liberties. Friends and foes abroad can see the insurrection incited by Donald Trump last year is still brewing.  Only 21 percent of Republicans in a recent poll said they believe Biden’s election was legitimate.

While Biden has worked expertly to unite NATO in the current face-off with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, it is the toughest, most dangerous test to date of Biden’s leadership on the world stage. So far, he has had little success in passing major climate-change legislation, inconclusive talks to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and a chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, leaving concerns by some about the president’s ability to execute successful foreign policies.

At home, the bigger threat to the American republic is coming from within – growing political polarization, continuing assaults on minority rights, and a Republican Party that now views the violent Capitol mob riots as “legitimate political discourse.”

 America needs Winston Churchill now, for this is not the nation’s finest hour. The United States is hovering between democracy and autocracy, and its longtime claim to lead the world by its democratic example is in doubt.

Biden took office promising to promote healing and comity after the disastrous years Trump spent stoking political division, white grievance, hate, and racism. Biden promised to bring normalcy by tackling the pandemic, the economic crisis, and the divisive political currents ripping America apart. 

While the economy has rebounded and most eligible Americans are vaccinated, inflation is high and the virus persists. Biden’s distressingly low approval ratings (an all-time low of 33 percent) are more evidence that the administration is struggling and that people are tired of living in crisis.

That’s fair. Presidents get the credit and the blame for what happens on their watch. But Biden still has time to turn this around. He needs a reboot at home if America is to restore its credibility to model democracy here and promote it beyond U.S. borders.

Biden is finally stepping up to counter these trends. Last month, he forcefully condemned the former president for spreading “a web of lies” about a free and fair election he lost, and for disrupting the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in U.S. history. Biden called it “holding a dagger at the throat” of American democracy, and he is now talking tough and taking his fight to the American people. That is the first important step, to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to make it absolutely clear the fight is on. The first real voter test will be the midterm elections this year.

The Justice Department this year filed the first round of seditious conspiracy charges for Jan. 6 rioters. That’s a good start. But they must also hold higher-ups accountable, not just the foot soldiers. Those who planned the insurrection and plotted to overturn the 2020 presidential election must not be above the law, no matter how senior they were in government.

As I wrote in a Jan. 19 commentary piece in the Chicago Tribune, it is ultimately up to the American people to act as good citizens, to defend their democracy, and push for truth and civility in our politics. Only that can help repair America’s global leadership. This should be a major theme of the 2022 midterm election campaigns. If the effort fails, this could well be the last free and fair election of our republic.

Storer H. (“Bob”) Rowley is a contributing writer for Washington Monthly and writes commentary for the Chicago Tribune, among other outlets. He teaches journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and has co-directed Medill’s Politics, Policy and Foreign Affairs specialization for graduate students. He is also Adjunct Faculty at Northwestern’s School of Communication and a former Assistant Vice President of Media Relations at the University. Earlier, as an award-winning journalist, Rowley spent 30 years working for the Chicago Tribune (1979-2009), the last seven of them as national editor, and covered stories in more than 50 countries. He also served as a member of the Tribune’s Editorial Board writing about foreign affairs and defense issues, and before that, was a foreign correspondent for 12 years based in Mexico, Canada and Israel. He served as the Tribune’s White House and Pentagon correspondents in Washington, D.C. He has covered wars and conflict, natural disasters, human rights, politics, economics, culture, religion and the human condition around the world. He is Vice President and a member of the board of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA.