Biden's 'Reckless Riffs Undermined' US Global Standing, Ex-Obama Official Says

Brett Bruen, former Director of Global Engagement for the Obama White House, has lashed out at President Joe Biden over his numerous “reckless” foreign policy gaffes that “unnecessarily undermined” the US’ global standing.

Bruen targeted the 46th US president in his article, published in USA Today, titled “Biden’s careless comments are hurting his presidency and diplomacy. He needs a reset.” The piece, in particular, pertains to the times when Biden served in Obama’s team.

According to Bruen, he “used to cringe when Vice President Joe Biden took to the podium”.

“Despite all the preparation that went into an event and his remarks, as a staffer on the National Security Council, you never quite knew what he [Biden] might say. At times, his offhanded comments could spice up what otherwise would be a pretty boring policy address. Yet, there were other times, too many times, when it could veer into dangerous terrain,” the ex-White House official asserted.

He added that the 79-year-old’s “reckless riffs have continued during his presidency, especially when discussing diplomacy”. Bruen specifically slammed POTUS for speaking about the "inevitability" that Kabul would “fall to the Taliban” last summer, arguing in Poland that Russian President Vladimir Putin "should be removed from power”, and stating "his clear commitment of American forces to the defence of Taiwan, a major departure from our [US] long-standing policy”.

“How does such careless careening into crisis territory keep happening? Biden bears the lion's share of the blame for his ill-considered improvisation,” Bruen asserted.

He also pointed the finger at Biden’s national security team, claiming that “they are all too aware that he has this troublesome tendency to go off script”. Bruen insisted that the team should better prepare the president for “obvious questions” and also be prepared themselves in advance with responses and “strategies for when the president sails the ship of state into unchartered waters”.

Cinco de Mayo Gaffe: President Joe Biden Promotes Mexican First Lady to 'Madam President'

6 May 2022, 12:19 GMT

The former director of global engagement for the Obama White House urged POTUS to “reset the whole national security team”, who Bruen claimed has repeatedly shown “an inability to execute and to staff him [Biden] effectively”.

“At the very least, from our own hemisphere to the Asia Pacific region, we have unnecessarily undermined our standing and irresponsibly handed propaganda points to our adversaries. Something needs to fundamentally change in how this White House deals with diplomacy,” Bruen concluded.

His remarks were partly echoed by former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who said in late 2021 that older American politicians should go through a special test to assess their mental performance in order to stay in public office.

She said that “there’s a concern” when it comes to Joe Biden, asserting that his constant gaffes question POTUS’ ability to work in capacity of US president.

“He [Biden] can't act like he doesn't know something. Because every time he acts like he doesn't know something from ‘OK, they tell me to call on these reporters’, you know, he keeps giving signals that he's not with us. So it's not people hating on Biden, it's Biden really showing the country that he's not totally in charge, and that makes everyone nervous,” Haley argued.

Biden has been grabbing global headlines over his gaffes and hiccups for quite some time, mixing up Iraq with Iran, promising to put 720 million American women back into the workforce (the entire US population is just 321 million), and – as a Democratic presidential candidate - telling black potential voters they are not black if they could not figure out whether to vote for him or Donald Trump.