When Joseph Biden was elected as the 46th president of the United States of America, many across the political sphere wondered how much influence Barack Obama would have on the new administration. This triggered Biden to quickly put an end to the whispers, reassuring the American people that his administration would not be an “Obama third term.” The skeptical said let’s wait for the new president to unveil his newly appointed cabinet members and key advisers before weighing Obama’s influence on the White house.
Within days, it became apparent that Obama’s shadow had loomed into Biden’s presidency, as most of Biden key appointees were in the Obama’s administration including Robert Malley, appointed as Special Envoy for Iran. This is might not be the last appointment related to Obama’s era. There was little doubts by now that Obama is in the White House!
Arguably, when George W. Bush was elected, his father and the 41st president of the United States had a similar influence on the formation of George W. Bush’s new administration. Yet, the key difference between Biden and Bush was that the latter loved his country, and what it represented economically culturally and as a military power despite its shortcomings.
On the contrary, Obama surrounded himself members in his administration including Ben Rhodes, a former Deputy National Security Advisor, Samantha Powers, a former U.S Ambassador, and Robert Malley, a former Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf, who had one question in mind specially after 9 11, “why do they hate us?” The response to this complex question in the mind of these people was simple; the deeds of the American polies around the world from Hiroshima all the way to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
This view on America led to the election of the first black president and coincided with the disruption of the world economic order thanks to the digital revolution.
“Neo-liberalism” was born, rejecting the world’s state of affairs on basic matters such as human interaction as well as economic and social conditions. unfortunately, neo-liberalism proved to be in practice similar to a dictatorship, as it labels its critics or anyone that doesn’t subscribe to their views on abortion, or climate change or religion or gender qualifications as enemies, traitors, and extremists. This is what Trump was accused of when he withdrew from the Paris climate agreement for instance or when he banned the transgender from joining the army. Trump stand up against neo-liberals, won him an extremely hostile coverage from media in all its forms and made him public number one.
Now any administration understands that a positive coverage from media and its patrons cannot happen if it doesn’t espouse the view of the neo liberals which is challenging the order as it today. And this is a problem both internally and externally? Why?
Because the divisions will deepen more than ever as Neo-liberals will aim to dismantle America’s core foundations and principles, by curtailing individuals right to freedom of expression that are opposite to theirs, trying to abolish the right to carry arms, turning the police to more of a social police than law enforcers way on abortion laws and make it possible even after the birth of the child and other things that 75 million Americans oppose and that is why they voted for Trump in the first place. Trump was merely a symptom of America’s deep and profound divisions.
Yet, on matters related to foreign affairs, this administration approach will apply the same reasoning on the world affairs and it will justify as it did during Obama tenure the hatred and grudge felted by America’s enemies. Malley sympathy towards Iran and Hamas and the enemies of the US and allies is not based on American interests but rather on the feeling that those resentments towards the US are justified. He must have been influenced by his father Simon Malley, who was an Egyptian-Jew and a “neo-liberal” before time. Simon Malley had a deep hatred for the deeds of the western policies mainly the colonization also its hostile stance towards the Palestinian cause. Now Malley is coming to a middle east that has changed quiet a lot in the last four years. How is he going to deal with the normalization of the gulf countries and Israel and its impact on the region or the indictment of the first Iranian diplomat on the charges of terrorism remains to be seen.
Nonetheless, the next four years whether on international or American domestic affairs will be interesting and challenging.
