United States President Joe Biden.
Editor's Note:
Roberto Izurieta is Director of Latin American Projects at George Washington University.
He has worked on political campaigns in several Latin American countries and Spain, and was an advisor to presidents Alejandro Toledo of Peru;
Vicente Fox, from Mexico, and Álvaro Colom, from Guatemala.
The author is also a contributor to CNN en Español.
The opinions expressed herein are solely theirs.
(CNN Spanish) --
The causes were not his fault, but it has been a bad year for the Biden government: inflation, delta and omicron variants of the new coronavirus, Afghanistan, Ukraine (or rather Vladimir Putin), disruption in the chain of supplies and political polarization. Most people are right to be unhappy. Despite not being Biden's fault, unfortunately in politics that is not enough and the bill is always paid by the politician on duty. Biden has less than ten months for things to change; but as much of it does not depend on him, we do not know how this new year will end and the election of Congress (and several governors) is in November.
The fact that the scientific community has discovered effective vaccines against covid-19 and that the governments of rich countries have financed their production was a great achievement for humanity. It is a pity that the previous government did not finance them in exchange for freeing up patents for poor countries; that would have changed the supply of vaccines in the world. But the worst was due to the toxic political debate encouraged by Trump and his people. The vaccination program promoted in the Biden administration would have been a total success, but, in part because of people who refuse to be vaccinated, the virus continued to mutate and the delta and omicron variants brought infections to record levels. I never held Trump responsible for the pandemic, but I did hold Trump responsible for contributing to the confusion and incentivizing anti-vaccine activists. Most of the voterson the contrary, they always indirectly hold the current president responsible for everything: whether he is responsible or not.
ANALYSIS |
The 7 most important phrases of Joe Biden's press conference
It's hard to win an election when people are upset.
It doesn't matter whose fault it is.
So far it seems to me that the virus will take its course and we can only take care of ourselves, but not control it.
Much of the scientific community says that we will soon go from this pandemic to an endemic one.
We'll get used to living with it.
Biden, then, has six months for things to improve.
If the main cause is the omicron variant and infections drop in a couple of months, people's spirits will recover quickly and Biden will be able to have a good year.
If so, my previous article would be correct when I said that the good news of the new year begins in March.
We'll see.
What are the other major threats for this year and the next two? For me, the closest threat to world peace is Putin with his clear intentions to invade Ukraine. If it does, it could be a long and very costly war for Russia. This will be an endurance race, like with the virus. Unfortunately, in politics many people expect quick and drastic responses. Will be an error. As in many things in life when there are no immediate victories, it is better to know how to resist. The problem for Biden will be political. As in Afghanistan, where after a long occupation the objectives were lost along the way, and the shameful withdrawal was their responsibility. Facing Putin, Biden will have to act with prudence and patience. As with the virus, in the end, we will win. When will that end be? We do not know,I wish it was before November for the good of the democrats.
What have been Biden's achievements and failures in his first year in office?
The other great threat is more complex and much more dangerous: the radical social and political movements of some marginalized people who express themselves violently. In several European countries, many of them demonstrate violently with anti-vaccine activists, or in those minorities organized in a structured way, around political parties and/or through social networks, spontaneously or inorganically. They can also express themselves politically in the streets or against the US Congress. In the case of this country, extremist movements are a real threat to democracy because they are supported or encouraged by many political leaders who seek to infiltrate democratic institutions ( especially electoral) to win elections without winning them. This, to me, is the greatest latent threat in the US.
Biden had many successes, but the successes in politics are always worth less than the failures.
Biden got two big stimulus packages passed and the economy is showing signs of strong recovery;
so does the stock market and jobs.
If other legislative achievements materialize, which judging by everything that has happened in recent weeks, seems very difficult, that will give Biden political oxygen for a couple of months.
People voted against Trump, but you can't govern successfully just because you're against someone, even though many of Trump's allies are a major threat to US democracy.