In March 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced to a shocked nation that he would not seek reelection. The nation was reeling from Vietnam, a tumultuous year of protests, and an overwhelming feeling of discontent that reached down into the heart and soul of America. A veteran of the U.S. Senate and a foreign policy expert in his own right, LBJ sensed he had lost the country and did the honorable thing by opting not to run again.
One cannot help but see the comparisons when we look at President Joe Biden and his first eight months in office. His handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal is the latest in a series of major setbacks that have resulted in a destitute America.
The administration has failed to address the crisis at our southern border and crushed America’s energy independence, making our nation less safe and ill-prepared for the future. Further, the reckless spending incurred since Biden entered office has led to inflation spikes affecting everything from fuel to school supplies and groceries.
Finally, the visuals of Afghans clinging for life and then falling from airplanes as America abandoned our own people and those who helped us will haunt our nation’s history for decades, if not lifetimes.
The sad reality is that Biden’s disastrous decisions have caused the American people to lose faith and confidence in him, and for the good of the nation, he must resign.
In just 11 days, Biden effectively surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban, stranded countless Americans and Afghan allies outside of potential safe zones, and crushed over two decades of humanitarian work advancing women and children. Biden is the face of this catastrophe, as his Cabinet continues to botch the aftermath of his unplanned and disastrous execution. We have gone from American stability to the Taliban calling the shots.
This is unacceptable.
While Biden has long considered himself a foreign policy expert, Robert Gates, the former defense secretary under President Barack Obama, claimed that Biden has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
The incompetency surrounding the Afghanistan withdrawal, including the abandonment of Bagram Air Base and the removal of our military forces before U.S. citizens and Afghan interpreters, coupled with a gross dereliction of duty, raises serious questions about the president’s knowledge and involvement in White House decision-making. Is Biden solely responsible for America’s worst foreign policy failure in a generation? Or has he relinquished the decision-making powers to unelected bureaucrats who are running the nation in his stead? I am not sure which answer is more concerning, and I am certain this is not what Americans voted for.
Last week, a little girl was trampled to death beneath a mob of people trying to flee Afghanistan. She was the daughter of an Afghan interpreter who became separated from her daughter amid the chaos. This story, and the visuals that accompanied it, signified the lowest point in what has been one of America’s darkest weeks this century. The fear is that the chaos has just begun and could get worse.
Biden has become the portrait of this chaos, and his standing in America, and the world, is forever diminished. It is time he realize this and acknowledge that America’s recovery, both domestically and across the globe, begins with his resignation as president. It is the right thing to do.
Vicky Hartzler represents Missouri’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
