“IRREVERSIBLE MOMENTUM”
Biden held a cabinet meeting last week to urge a “sprint to the finish” to promote his policies – and to give any reflected glory to Harris in an agonisingly close election.
His director of communications Ben LaBolt said in a memo to White House staff that the administration should “put a stake in the ground for the future” – and, in a clear swipe at Trump, spoke of how Biden had restored “decency and dignity to the White House.”
With an eye on the history books, Biden is seeking to put his stamp on policy across the board.
On international alliances – where Trump threatened to drop Western allies if they did not spend more money on defence and held summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, India and Australia for a farewell summit in his hometown on Saturday.
On climate – where Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris accords – Biden wanted to build an “irreversible momentum behind climate action,” his National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said on Monday.
And on Ukraine – where Trump praised Putin and has been distinctly cool in supporting Kyiv – Biden is hosting a farewell meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Thursday to discuss more US support.
“The fact that we do have Gaza, the fact that we do have Ukraine and Sudan issues in our world, just underscores the need for that kind of cooperation,” a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Yet the greatest prize of all – the Gaza ceasefire that Biden set his sights on before he leaves office in January 2025 – seems further away than ever.
Instead, the situation in the Middle East is becoming ever more dangerous, with the UN General Assembly likely to be dominated by recent Israeli attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon which have killed at least 500 people.
Biden “will address the Middle East, especially this very difficult year that we have all gone through” in his speech, the senior US official said.
