Why Joe Biden Had Such a Good Week The White House cocaine investigation was closed without a result

Urs Fischer became champion and cup winner with FC Basel. Still, he was fired. The reasons are still unclear today, but the result is clear. Fischer celebrates spectacular successes in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin, FCB has a more difficult time in the Superliga.

What is that supposed to tell us? Like Fischer, Joe Biden is not a glamorous star but a solid handyman. He doesn’t give brilliant speeches, he doesn’t promise heaven and earth – but he delivers. No other US president has smuggled so many important bills through Congress in recent decades. And just as George H. Bush was able to unite a broad front against Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War against Iraq, Biden was able to rally the West against Vladimir Putin.

As with Fischer and FCB, actual success is not reflected in people’s perceptions. Biden is still at rock bottom. Every slip of the tongue – and there are many – is recorded, every misstep – there are many of them – makes international headlines.

Yes, Biden is 80 years old and moves like an old man. That cannot be denied. But maybe that’s why he’s so successful.

This became apparent once again at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Before the meeting started, the mood was rather subdued. Recep Erdogan, the always stubborn Turkish president, had previously announced that he would only agree to Sweden joining NATO if the EU also accepted his country as a member. A demand that everyone knew stood no chance and could only arouse enthusiasm in the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, champagne corks pop in Stockholm. Biden flew to Vilnius and came, saw and conquered. Erdogan had changed. What kind of compensation he received for his yes to Sweden’s NATO membership is not exactly known. However, one can assume that the Turkish president – given the developments in Russia – assumes that a dispute with the US is not really a good idea at the moment.

Ukraine’s relationship with NATO also came to a head after a brief commotion in Minne. Participating during the war was never an option anyway. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now received binding commitments to this end – and US cluster munitions. Biden also contradicted many pundits’ fears of a long war of attrition. “I don’t think the war will last for years,” he said during his visit to Helsinki. “The Russians won’t be able to hold on.”

That’s all well and good, the eternal Biden nags will object. But that is not the credit of the president, but of his staff. Biden is just a puppet of the West Wing, the wing of the White House where the president’s staff works.

Stupid reasoning. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, they and many others are brilliant indeed. However, gathering good employees is the defining characteristic of a good boss. This is exactly what sets Biden apart from, say, Putin. The authoritarian Kremlin boss only tolerates loyal subjects around him, guys like Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Putin’s sycophants cannot pose a threat to the autocrat, but they regularly fail. Competent toppers are regularly pushed aside for this too. The most recent example is General Ivan Popov. He is considered one of the few capable Russian generals and is popular with the troops. He has just been fired for daring to point out the shortcomings of the Russian military leadership.

The good news from the foreign policy front will certainly be well received in the White House. However, the most recent economic data will likely be much more decisive for Biden’s re-election. Inflation has halved and is now at three percent. Despite all the doom prophecies of conservative economists, a soft landing for the economy has thus become a realistic scenario.

After the pandemic and skyrocketing energy prices, such a soft landing would be a masterpiece from an economic policy perspective – and an opportunity to finally recognize the successes of the Biden administration. “The government and the Fed have been the target of harsh criticism for initially underestimating the risk of high government spending,” said Paul Krugman in the New York Times. “However, both ensured that new jobs were created almost explosively. Not only was a recession avoided and one of the fastest economic recovery periods in history started. It was also probably the best job market in generations.”

The surprisingly rapid drop in inflation is also an indication that bidenomics are working. Janet Yellen defines what this means as follows: “It seeks to stimulate economic growth by ensuring the availability of a sufficient workforce and promoting productivity. At the same time, inequality and damage to the environment are reduced.”

The White House has long resisted the use of the term “Bidenomics”. But now you go on the attack. There are good reasons for that. The Financial Times has calculated that so far these economic policies have led to private investment of about $200 billion and created about 85,000 manufacturing jobs. Well-paid and union jobs.