A Win on Points for Biden

With his calm manner, the U.S. president has managed to avoid what would have been a catastrophic default.

He was barely visible, subdued and conciliatory, while his adversary Kevin McCarthy loudly trumpeted his rhetoric. Having last weeks, this bitter debt dispute seemed to provide Joe Biden’s critics with new arguments. They complained that the president is too old, too cautious and not sufficiently present in the media.

But anyone who more closely analyzes the compromise reached will come to a very different conclusion. With his calm manner, the sly old fox has achieved far more than many thought possible just days ago; he avoided a U.S. default, which would have had catastrophic political consequences, and deferred the next budget dispute until after the election. He also managed to push through his flagship climate projects.

It’s no surprise that the Democrats’ left-wing faction is less than enthusiastic about the compromise. But the bottom line is that McCarthy, whose party had demanded brutal cuts, ended up making much larger concessions. This climbdown could even be politically fatal for the careerist, who is at the mercy of the far-right political anarchists in his faction. The fact that Biden has largely allowed McCarthy to dominate the media coverage is a testament to his shrewdness.