Joe Biden, the Hawk
If you’re looking for a president with a track record of boosting foreign intervention, expanding the surveillance state, and steadfastly backing Israel despite its war crimes, Joe Biden is your guy.
Joe Biden addresses enlisted soldiers after the US Forces-Iraq ceremony in the Al Faw Palace at Victory Base Complex, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2011.US Air Force photo / Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo
If the next president of the United States is a Democrat, one of their major tasks will be to stand up to the national security state.
Back in 2008, Obama was widely thought to be that figure, campaigning (and winning) on a rejection of the Bush-era “war on terror” before entrenching and expanding it once in power. As the world watched Obama hand control of this machine to Donald Trump, it served as a sobering reminder of why any future Democratic president would need to take seriously the task of confronting the Washington consensus on national security.
Joe Biden wouldn’t be that president.
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