Some Things Aren’t Better Left Unsaid
President Biden Needs to Speak Up About How Semiconductors, Secure Supply Chains and Alliances Fit Together
The best argument against democracy, Winston Churchill once said, is a five minute conversation with the average voter. Churchill presumably was reflecting on the Brits’ version of John Q. Public, the bloke in the pub, pint in hand, declaiming on the affairs of the realm. Nonetheless, Jake Sullivan might have had a similar thought in mind two weeks ago when he spoke at the Aspen Security Forum.
Sullivan, President Biden’s National Security Advisor, did as good a job as anyone could explaining his foreign policy during an on-stage Q&A. But smoothly reasoned presentation for the Washington cognoscenti at their Rocky Mountain retreat or not, he only briefly, and in closing touched on the biggest problem facing his boss. It isn’t Russia, China, or global health and climate threats. It’s communicating about them right in his own backyard.
Let’s stipulate that explaining to Americans what matters in the tangled skein of problems facing the administration would challenge any president. Consider just one set of complexities: Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, energy and the economy. Sanctions hit Russia’s energy sector hard following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But they also roiled world markets. Gas prices ballooned, adding to supply chain snafus and pandemic spending that have spiked inflation, triggering a hike in interest rates as well as recession fears.
The midterm elections magnify the difficulty of focusing on foreign policy amidst the bread-and-butter concerns, top of mind for Americans, that the administration is facing and its opponents trying exploit. Biden’s recent successes on Capitol Hill, such as passage of a $280 billion investment package for computer chip production and scientific research, are stump speech worthy achievements. But along with his climate plan now hanging in the balance, their connection to his foreign policy, at least in the public eye, is tenuous at best.
And that’s the point. The administration’s signature initiatives that bear on national security aren’t easily described, much less sold with flag waving slogans. In fact, they’re complicated requiring a pitch that explains their importance. To be sure, Jake Sullivan or for that matter the secretaries of State and Defense aren’t paid to sell election year soap. But a failure to do just that not only misses the opportunity to inform potential voters, but also, if opinion polls and history are any guide, ensures they’ll ignore the accomplishments as well.
Asia, where China’s rising power threatens allies and the US role, is a case in point. Take the linkage between boosting chip manufacturing, strengthening supply chains, and alliances. Along with American companies bringing production facilities home, South Korean and Japanese investment in US-based manufacturing aligns with and strengthens US strategic relationships. Threats may change but the template doesn’t; the economic and technological cooperation between allies that will mark the 21st Century is just as crucial to US security as was co-production of weapons and aircraft that strengthened alliances during the Cold War.
As his closing comments suggested on the Aspen stage, the need to communicate about the challenges facing the country isn’t lost on Sullivan. Reflecting on the impact of the war in Ukraine on American views, he noted the struggle against Russian aggression has opened the door to a different discussion of the US role. “I do think it is a platform upon which to build a national conversation, especially with young people, about the question of America’s purpose and power in the world.”
The Biden administration is taking significant steps to make the US role and American alliances more effective. In 2022 making that clear should be part of the “national conversation” as well.