Jules Witcover

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden preceded his first trip to Europe in office by publicly laying out his agenda: restoring America’s ties with her strongest allies en route to a Geneva meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In The Washington Post, Biden wrote: “It is a trip stacked with meetings with our closest democratic partners, including the Group of Seven nations, our NATO allies and the leadership of the European Union.” In so doing, he is returning to familiar and generally friendly ground, reconnecting with many old friends from his years as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman as well as meeting new ones.

Biden further wrote as a prelude to his visit: “In this moment of global uncertainty, as the world still grapples with a once-in-a-century pandemic, this trip is about realizing America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners, and demonstrating the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats of this new age.”

While extending a friendly hand to old and new European leaders, Biden reiterated his assertion that “the United States must lead the world from a position of strength.” He also promoted his own American Rescue Plan, including the swift and effective vaccination program to combat the pandemic and dispatch the vaccines abroad.

He capped his remarks by announcing an American gift of an astounding half-billion Pfizer vaccines to allies abroad to stem the pandemic, further demonstrating our global leadership and commitment to international health and well-being.

On a personal level, old-shoe Joe Biden could anticipate a warm welcome, particularly as the man who ousted Donald Trump from the White House, as well as raising European hopes that fortunes there also would materialize with a more experienced and trustworthy man in the Oval Office.

All this does not preclude Biden from encountering a whole new set of appeals and complaints about American policies. He acknowledged there is much diplomatic work to be done with Putin to achieve “a stable and predictable relationship that can work with Russia where we can work on issues like strategic stability and arms control.”

He continued: “That’s why I acted immediately to extend the next START treaty for five years and bolster the security of the American people and the world.” All this is in the way of an assurance that he will not lower U.S. awareness of continuing peril from the West’s prime adversary in East.

In a sense, Biden’s first trip abroad as president can also highlight the domestic and foreign opportunities and challenges now facing this familiar face and voice in American politics and world affairs. At age 78, he shows no signs yet of not being up to the job.

On arrival in Great Britain for a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Biden was quick to assure the West that “along the way we’re going to make clear that America is back” from the four-yard detour of Donald Trump. With his meeting with Putin obviously in mind, he added: “And democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future.”

Biden’s first return to Europe as president is a reunion with many other national leaders he has encountered during his 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice president in the Obama administration.

Regarding America’s commitment to NATO, distinctly compromised by Trump’s open hostility toward the longtime Western Alliance, Biden’s decades-long support assures him a warm welcome mat.

At the same time, he may have to cope with some disgruntlement over his withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving the task to remaining NATO forces. But his record and reputation as one of their foremost enthusiastic defenders should readily sustain him through his first return to familiar Europe as president.

Jules Witcover’s latest book is “The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power,” published by Smithsonian Books. You can respond to this column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.

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