Pictures of President Biden golfing in the Caribbean are all over the media. But so are pictures of President Zelensky braving war trenches in Ukraine.
This unwitting juxtaposition does not bode well – for Biden.
Biden golfs while Zelensky braves war trenches
Biden has done more to help Ukraine than any other world leader. And I suspect every Ukrainian is grateful for his support. But I fear these pictures of Biden golfing will increase long-simmering resentment.
Golfing on vacation is the least of it
Ukrainians must find those pictures dispiriting. But they must find the drip-drip way Biden is supplying weapons to them far more so. Biden maintains he is doing it this way to avoid escalating the war. He fears incurring Putin’s wrath.
But, at this point, that must strike Ukrainians as patently absurd. I mean, imagine your house is on fire. Your neighbor is bringing you cup after another of water to help put it out. You plead for them to let you use their hose. And they refuse, saying they fear doing so would cause the fire to spread. As I said, it’s absurd.
For example, Biden waited for Russia to bomb Ukraine to smithereens. Only then did he agree to send the US Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine. That’s like your neighbor waiting for your house to burn to the ground. And only then agreeing to lend you that hose.
Why force Ukraine to suffer needlessly
Zelensky began pleading for that Patriot system on day one of this war. So imagine the Ukrainian lives, homes, and infrastructure he could have saved. That is if Biden had granted his plea.
And talk about too little, too late. It’ll still be months before Ukraine deploys the Patriot missile system. But, by then, Putin might have no more missiles to fire. And Ukraine might have nothing left standing to defend.
Biden declared on day one that Ukraine is fighting to defend all democracies. He framed this conflict as a clash between utopian democracies and dystopian autocracies.
Yet the United States has sent more weapons to autocratic Saudi Arabia than democratic Ukraine. And it did so even while Saudi Arabia was doing to Yemen what Russia is doing to Ukraine.
That’s why Ukrainians must find Biden’s drip-drip strategy so dispiriting. And it’s why those pictures of him golfing are bound to increase their resentment.
Zelensky might be Churchill, but Biden is no FDR
Zelensky is channeling Churchill. And everyone is hailing him for that. Biden is not channeling FDR. But no one is criticizing him for that.
Of course, instead of fearing Hitler’s wrath, FDR was bending US law to send weapons to England. As it happened, FDR also visited the Caribbean. He did so while Germany was doing to England in December 1940 what Russia is doing to Ukraine today.
But FDR didn’t go for a golfing vacation. He went to meet British officials and inspect British military bases.
The point is that FDR would not have been golfing in the Caribbean while Hitler was bombing England. That is, even if FDR were able to.
How will history judge Biden?
Biden’s dithering over sending weapons will be the biggest military blunder of this war. It has caused Ukrainians to suffer unspeakable death and destruction. I fear when they reflect on this, it will fill them with inconsolable resentment.
History will judge Biden harshly. That he dithered is damning enough. But he even conditioned the weapons he sent to Ukraine. He made them promise they would not use them to strike inside Russia.
All might be fair in war. But there’s nothing fair about allowing Russia to bomb Ukraine with impunity. That offends all democratic notions of fundamental fairness. Because this condition has only prolonged Ukraine’s suffering.
Biden is the most empathetic president in US history. But this vacation puts salt in the wounds his dithering has caused. It reflects behavior you’d expect only of Donald J. Trump. And he might be the least empathetic president in US history.