The Oswegonian

The Independent Student Newspaper of Oswego State

DATE

Dec. 23, 2024

National Issues Opinion Top Stories

Biden administration an embarrassment

Joe Biden has been working in politics for over 40 years and his list of failures started before the Oval Office. Being a U.S. Senator from Delaware in 1979 is what started a long career in politics. When Biden was elected in 2020 he had major plans to take back the office from former President Trump and handle the COVID-19 pandemic. However, approval ratings have dipped from 69% down to 53.4%. 

Americans have lost faith in the rollout for vaccines after the first incident with the Johnson&Johnson vaccine which was shown to cause blood clots. It has since received a 94% protection approval the length of time it took to approve the Pfizer vaccine, and Moderna is still not approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

The economy is at its worst since the Obama administration, which Biden was a part of, and unemployment is still sitting at an all time high. Just 235,000 jobs were added in the month of August. The numbers fell well short of the jobs added for both June and July, about 1 million a month. The handling of the vaccine, the pandemic and opening or, should I say lack of opening, back up our country. If the pandemic continues to roll on within this Biden administration, the chance of reelection hangs in the balance. 

Biden has also faltered with his foreign policies, looking weak to Russia and North Korea, locations that Trump showed to have power within and a good relationship with both leaders. 

The recent controversy in Afghanistan really put Biden in trouble. The decision to pull out troops was something that presidents before had planned to do but never capitalized on. Something that Trump had planned on doing but the plan to do so never worked. To pull troops out of Afghanistan was long overdue, but it must be done in the correct way, and Biden did not do that. Biden left between 100 and 200 U.S. citizens in Afghanistan because they were being blocked by Taliban forces. He failed the thousands of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in the fight against terrorists and the Taliban. The administration has yet to make it clear how they are going to evacuate these humans. 

The tragic killing of 13 American service members in a suicide bombing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is blood on Biden’s hands as thousands tried to flee following the Taliban takeover. Among them were 11 Marines, a Navy hospital corpsman and one Army soldier. Among them were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons and grandchildren. Every loved one said the same thing though, claiming “they loved this country and loved their job, they would not go back on their decisions.” 

Biden also abandoned thousands of high-tech military weapons for the Taliban to have. To Afghan forces in this year alone the United States provided $3 billion worth of equipment. The U.S. gave over 600,000 infantry weapons to Afghans. Between 2003 and 2016, the U.S. purchased and provided 75,898 vehicles and 208 aircraft, to the Afghan army and security forces, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Most of these are now believed to be in the hands of Taliban forces. This comes after images of the Taliban having a parade with U.S. tanks, personal carriers and Blackhawk helicopters. Our communication equipment, shotguns, night vision goggles and grenade launchers are all in the hands of terrorists. The Taliban had United States weapons and the country, Biden’s response, was a drone strike. A drone strike that was targeted at the wrong car and ended up killing 10 people, seven of them children and the vehicle targeted was not a threat associated with ISIS-K. Biden’s poor handling took American lives and that is something he can never get back. 

As the midterm elections draw closer and time dwindles for this administration, these last few failures have their ratings below both former President Barack Obama and George W. Bush. This not only could affect the current administration but the races across the country in the Senate and House of Representatives. Could these failures cause a one term president, or will Biden begin a turnaround for the country and stay through both terms? That question will be answered in the next two years and will decide the fate of this administration.