During the 2020 campaign for the hardest job in the world, many critics questioned if Joe Biden, 79, was up to the task. While some wondered whether he still had his once-powerful faculties, others pondered whether a man who’s nearly an octogenarian could physically handle the demanding job, which runs 24/7/365 and requires hundreds of thousands of miles of travel, never easy on the body.
Now, we know the answer.
Biden dispatched Vice President Kamala Harris to Europe this week in an attempt to avert Russia’s apparently imminent invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, here is Biden’s schedule for Friday morning, provided by the White House:
10:00 AM THE PRESIDENT receives the President’s Daily Brief
Closed Press
Yes, that’s it.
As Harris flew to Germany to deliver a message from the U.S. in an effort to avert what would be the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, Biden headed to Lorain, Ohio, to talk about his infrastructure plan.
Normally, it’s the vice president who gets the scut work, like, say, going to Lorain, Ohio, to talk about the infrastructure law. But for that trip, Biden was back in the White House by 3:15 p.m., even as Harris was just halfway to Europe.
In an ironic twist, Harris — who was named Border Czar by Biden and tasked with solving the vexing problem at the U.S.-Mexico border, but has not once visited there — was dispatched by the president to solve a border crisis nearly 5,000 miles away from America.
“Biden is deploying Kamala Harris to Europe to help ease Russia-Ukraine tensions,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) tweeted last week, adding sarcastically: “Right, because she’s doing so well with our southern border….”
Harris will be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as other Baltic leaders, a job usually filled by the U.S. president. For reference, vice presidents usually meet with vice presidents, foreign ministers with foreign ministers (or, in the case of the U.S., the Secretary of State). Presidents meet with presidents, so it was a decidedly odd decision for Biden to send his underling to such an important conclave.
The regularly cowed U.S. media actually took notice of the oddity.
“A senior State Department official this morning said that this is perhaps the most perilous moment for peace and security since the Cold War,” a reporter asked White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday. “So is there a concern that this trip could distract the president from thinking about Ukraine and Russia?”
Jean-Pierre replied, “Every president, whether it’s a Democratic president or a Republican, has dealt with multiple crises as once. And that’s what this president is doing. He was vice president before, he’s been in the Senate. He knows how to deal with multiple crises at the same time … But this is not going to deter him from what he needs to do for the American public.”
For her part, Harris — who has been crushed in the polls amid reports that she runs a bullying and dysfunctional veep office — is happy to play president.
“It is a priority for President Biden and myself that we are engaged with our allies and partners around the world,” she told foreign leaders.
Well, if it is such a priority, why didn’t Biden, elected by the American people to run the country, go himself?
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.
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