Joe Biden won his party’s nomination in 2020 because he wasn’t Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and he won the presidency because he wasn’t Donald Trump. And if that sounds simple, it’s because it is.
Biden didn’t win because he convinced a majority of voters that he was a man of great vision or wisdom. They voted for him because they were tired of the chaos and deception they got from his predecessor.
So what did they get in Joe Biden? They got the chaos and the deception they thought they had rejected. They got the fiasco in Afghanistan. They got a man who, so far, has denied any hint of failure, has refused to acknowledge any mistakes, who claims the chaotic Afghanistan mess we’ve witnessed on television was inevitable and, whenever he can, blames Donald Trump for the whole thing.
They got “a diminished man living in a world of delusion,” as Bill O’Reilly put it in his most recent column.
And they got something else they didn’t bargain for: Not “Middle-class Joe” — a guy not that different from the rest of us “ordinary” Americans — but, instead, a deeply political man whose main interest, like that of so many politicians, is looking out for Number One.
When Biden went on national television recently, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos said: “We’ve got, like, 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now. Right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out is out?”
“Yes,” Biden replied.
But that was one more thing that wasn’t true. When the Taliban took control of Kabul, President Biden needed to make sure not only that there would be no U.S. casualties but that his own standing in the polls wouldn’t take a hit. So he broke his promise: He wanted us out by Aug. 31 — even if we had to leave some Americans and our Afghan allies behind.
This is not only cynical, it’s dishonorable.
Like a vast majority of Americans, I thought 20 years in that godforsaken mess of a country was long enough. But I’m not naïve; I know our absence may cause all sorts of very serious problems.
President Biden must know that, too. But I suspect he’s counting on the short memory of the American people. If things go smoothly from here on out, maybe they won’t remember — or maybe won’t care all that much — about the fall of Afghanistan to a violent, fundamentalist tribe like the Taliban. Maybe they’ll only see him as the man who ended our longest war.
But that may be wishful thinking.
Biden desperately wanted to avoid any images that might be politically damaging. So, instead of using however many U.S. troops we needed to smooth the way for our departure, he depended on the Taliban to allow safe passage to Americans and our allies who wanted to catch a plane out of the country. He depended on the Taliban to make sure our final days in Afghanistan were not marred by chaos. That didn’t turn out as planned: A suicide bomber who somehow got past Taliban security blew himself up and killed 13 U.S. servicemen and -women, along with scores of others.
Now Biden is counting on the same Taliban to act civilized, to allow any Americans and our allies who couldn’t get out by Aug. 31 to leave safely, sooner rather than later — if at all. He’s counting on the Taliban not to seek revenge on anyone and everyone they saw as the enemy.
So it comes down to this for Biden, a man who is looking out for his reputation and his place in history: His future — and the fortunes of his political party — depends on the goodwill of the Taliban. Did he think of that?
If the Taliban don’t behave, I’m sure Biden will issue a strong statement expressing his disappointment and disapproval. And there’s a good chance that after the Taliban stop laughing, they will wonder how the American people ever elected such a man in the first place.
Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He was a correspondent with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for 22 years and previously worked as a reporter for CBS News and as an analyst for Fox News. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Patreon page. Follow him on Twitter @BernardGoldberg.