New York Times columnist Bret Stevens accused President Joe Biden of being a "failing president" who is so weak that the Western world is effectively leaderless.

Stevens also said the best thing Biden could do is immediately announce that he will not run for a second term in 2024.

The author began his fierce criticism of Biden with the statement that there are no leaders in the democratic world today. To illustrate his point, he referred to past world leadership under the US, writing: "Twenty-five years ago, we had the confident presences of Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl and Tony Blair — and Alan Greenspan. Now we have a failing American president, a timorous German chancellor, a British prime minister about to skulk out of office in ignominy."

"This is bad in normal times. It is catastrophic in bad ones," Stephens added, before attacking Biden’s credibility on the world stage. He claimed Biden’s lack of leadership has put holes in U.S. "international credibility." He mentioned how the withdrawal from Afghanistan "telegraphed incompetence and weakness" and dinged Biden’s handling of the Ukraine conflict. 

The author also expressed strong doubts that Biden would be able to handle the looming nuclear crisis with Iran, in which the president appears to have no policy other than talks that are on the verge of failure.

Summing up Biden's weakness, Stevens wrote: "Talented leaders turn proverbial lemons into lemonade. Biden seems to be mastering the trick of turning lemonade into lemons."

He then lashed out at Biden for undermining America's economic credibility, saying, a crisis of confidence occurs when leaders make strong predictions despite a lot of contrary evidence that turns out to be disastrously wrong. Biden's insistence that inflation was temporary is one such prediction.

The columnist feared that Biden's "insistence on Monday that ‘God willing, I don’t think we’re going to see a recession’ may be the next." In addition, Biden hasn’t made changes to face the economic problems head on. "At least Jimmy Carter had the guts to nominate Paul Volcker. Where is a similar confidence-inspiring move from Biden, who, remarkably, retains the same inept economic team that helped lead us into this mess?" he asked. 

Stevens expressed fears about a potential global recession and the imminent collapse of other countries around the world, implying that it would be difficult for Biden and the US to deal with a geopolitical situation that would likely get much worse.

He also heavily questioned Biden's ability to handle the crisis facing "liberal democracy" around the world, noting that the rise of "effective autocracies" is a "challenge" for even the most "inspired leaders." Except for Volodymyr Zelensky, there are none."

 

Thus, according to the observer, Biden may well step aside in 2024 and let his party find a new leadership capable of dealing with the tense moment he described. He urged Biden to announce as soon as possible that he would not run for president. "The best thing Biden could do for the country is announce he won’t run for re-election — now, not after the midterms. Let his party sort out its own future," Stephens wrote.