One can only wonder what the real relationship is between Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton these days. Are they still on the same team of rivals?
Clinton’s portfolio is beyond daunting – and hardly limited to North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, China and Venezuela. Russia is a key component. A global player and proud, former peer with an authoritarian bent and economic travails. The U.S. and Russia disagree on a number of issues — from missile defense to the autonomy of erstwhile Soviet Union republics. But America and Russia need each other in a world that isn’t just economically interlinked, but one where civilizational warfare emanating from jihadi terrorists is still the ultimate threat.
More than most, Biden understands what the U.S. confronts geopolitically. But he persists in being the Administration’s MVP (Most Voluble Player). Clinton’s uber challenging job shouldn’t have to include cleaning up after Biden.
Exhibit A: While visiting Georgia and Ukraine, Biden minced no words in underscoring our commitments to them – and how we wouldn’t sell them out to Russia. OK. The Russians also know about what plays well for local consumption. Biden’s not the first one to toss red-meat rhetoric at a ravenous, live audience on their home turf.
But then, after the emotions of the moment had passed, he dispassionately insulted Russia in a Wall Street Journal interview. To say, among other affronts, that Russia “is clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable” and that it’s stuck with “a withering economy and a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years” helps no one. Including Hillary Clinton.
To be sure, Biden’s points, however belittling, have merit. But they’re counterproductive when uttered in public about a country whose cooperation we need on a range of issues, including the ultimate one.