Biden had a good week in San Francisco. He should let people know

Yesterday, I penned an analysis of President Biden’s Wednesday sit-down with Chinese president Xi Jinping with a catchy headline, in which I asked whether the 46^th president was “tired of winning”.

The answer, as it turned out, was that he was not.

Less than 24 hours after I asked the question, Mr Biden sat down for yet another bilateral meeting, this time with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or as the kids call him, AMLO.

The Mexican leader has a reputation as being a bit of a populist, and definitely not the type to take orders from an American president.

So it was a bit of a surprise when he sat down with Mr Biden and declared that his government would take action to stop the import of precursor chemicals used to make deadly fentanyl, the synthetic narcotic that has killed so many Americans that some have likened it to a chemical weapon.

He told Mr Biden: ”We’re fully aware of the damage it poses to the United States youth … we are sincerely committed to continue to assist it our fullest capacity to prevent drug trafficking, namely the entrance of fentanyl and other chemical precursors”

Mr Lopez Obrador also described the relations between the US and Mexico as “excellent” and praised the US president for having worked to open up legal pathways for migrants to apply for asylum in the US without having to trek through Mexico first.

“You have an extraordinary president in the United States,” he said, adding that Mr Biden was “a man with convictions” and “a good man”.

After a tumultuous month of hearing the US president slammed as nothing short of an enabler of genocide by left-wing protesters across the US, it was jarring to hear a foreign leader — particularly one not known for bear-hugging US presidents — express such warm thoughts about an American chief executive.

Republicans have spent much of his term attacking him as “weak” and making hay out of various video clips which highlight his age, his less-than-smooth-tongued way of speaking, and his occasional stumbles.

To a significant extent, the right-wing media apparatus has successfully convinced Americans that Mr Biden’s low-key, soft-spoken nature is a negative and a sign of unfitness compared with the bombast and physicality of the man he defeated in 2020 and looks likely to face again, former president Donald Trump.

But Mr Biden has managed to use his decades of experience on the world stage to extract significant victories when he’s had engagements with world leaders.

He is not bullying anyone. He’s not threatening to use tariffs or pull US troops out of Europe or Asia as if the US military is part of a protection racket.

There’s no bluster to him, he doesn’t strut about and shove other leaders out of his way, as Mr Trump famously did to the prime minister of Montenegro during his first Nato summit.

Instead, he and his team have brought professionalism and quiet strength to the table, whether it’s with China, Mexico, or any of the other economies the US engaged with this week.

But with Mr Trump threatening to fill a second administration with sycophants and lapdogs if he’s elected next November, it might be time for Mr Biden to start boasting about his record. Because when it comes to dealing with friends and foes alike, he and his team are making the right moves.