By The New York Times (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-05 09:07:31 | Updated at 2024-10-05 11:13:35
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Even as President Biden recedes from view, some of the most consequential days of his term may be ahead of him.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers the White House. He reported from Washington.
Oct. 5, 2024, 5:04 a.m. ET
President Biden was in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday morning, watching on video monitors as Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. The wider war in the Middle East, which Mr. Biden had spent much of his presidency trying to avert, had arrived.
But so had another crisis, closer to home.
Even as he discussed military options with his foreign policy advisers, a White House staffer handed him a succession of notes about Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to strike the U.S. mainland in nearly two decades.
The time Mr. Biden spent inside the ultrasecure facility that morning, described by a senior administration official who asked for anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting, was a vivid example of the final months of Mr. Biden’s presidency. Even as he yields much of the spotlight to Vice President Kamala Harris, he is finishing out his term managing an array of major crises, all of them playing out more or less simultaneously.
It is a reminder that even as Mr. Biden recedes from view, some of the most consequential days of his presidency may lie ahead. And no occupant of the White House has ever had the luxury of focusing on one crisis at a time.
Aside from the conflict in the Middle East and the catastrophic hurricane, Mr. Biden is dealing with war in Ukraine; Russia threatening nuclear escalation; a short-lived but serious dockworkers’ strike; and former President Donald J. Trump within striking distance of the White House once again. (Not to mention fears of foreign election interference and the prospect of an October Surprise — the list goes on.)
“It’s unusual,” Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist, said of the chaotic nature of Mr. Biden’s final months as president. Mr. Begala recalled Colin Powell’s comment during his last national security briefing to then-President Ronald Reagan: “The world is quiet today.”
