Congress moves on Ukraine aid. Doubts about US leadership persist.
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
Shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives approved long-stalled military assistance for Ukraine, the country鈥檚 president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, lauded the vote for putting the United States back in its rightful place as leader of the free world.
鈥淭hank you America!鈥� Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel Saturday. 鈥淒emocracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it.鈥�
But in reality the vote sent mixed signals about America鈥檚 place in the world and Washington鈥檚 appetite for maintaining a strong leadership role, some foreign policy analysts say.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAmerica鈥檚 allies see Washington鈥檚 resumption of military aid to Ukraine as a sign that it is still ready to play a global leader鈥檚 role. But the debate before the aid vote revealed a less certain message.
鈥淎merican leadership in the world is not dead yet,鈥� says Peter Feaver, director of Duke University鈥檚 Program in American Grand Strategy. 鈥淏ut the fact it took so long and the vote was so close is ominous and shows there鈥檚 still something of a fight.鈥�
The Ukraine assistance 鈥� part of a larger package of $95 billion in foreign military aid that also helps Israel and Taiwan 鈥� was expected to easily win Senate approval Tuesday before President Biden signs it into law. Pentagon officials say Ukraine could start seeing fresh weaponry within days.聽
Allies鈥� relief may be short-lived
Saturday鈥檚 House vote prompted a sigh of relief among U.S. allies, who had worried for months that the aid hold-up signaled rising U.S. isolationism and the end of Ronald Reagan鈥檚 vision of America as a force for global freedom.
鈥淎merica鈥檚 back, and we have our allies鈥� back now,鈥� Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, promised Sunday in a U.S. television interview.
Ukraine aid proponents praised Speaker Mike Johnson鈥檚 shift in attitude, from opposition to support of the aid package, as emblematic of America鈥檚 return to its traditional global leadership role. President Zelenskyy singled out Mr. Johnson for a decision that 鈥渒eeps history on the right track.鈥�
But a majority of House Republicans voted against the $61 billion in Ukraine aid, forcing Mr. Johnson to rely on Democrats to get it passed.
The Republican vote reflects a number of recent public opinion surveys showing that the Republican electorate is increasingly skeptical about a strong U.S. role in global affairs. Many voters are drawn instead to former President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥� approach to the world.
For the first time in nearly a half-century, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found in its October 2023 survey that a majority of Republicans preferred to see the United States 鈥渟tay out of 鈥� rather than take an active part in 鈥� world affairs.鈥�
That marked a stark shift from 2015, when the same survey found Republicans more likely than Democrats to favor a strong international role.
The Chicago Council attributed the change to 鈥淭rump Republicans,鈥� but it is not new, says Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington who served on former President Barack Obama鈥檚 National Security Council.
鈥淭rump is as much a symptom as he is a cause of America鈥檚 inward turn,鈥� he suggests.
Calling this new focus 鈥渟omething that is here to stay,鈥� Dr. Kupchan points out that U.S. political leaders have tapped into the shift since President Obama鈥檚 campaign issued a bumper sticker declaring 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for nation-building at home.鈥�
U.S. political dysfunction overshadows international role
Dr. Kupchan says he is more worried by what he calls the 鈥渂igger message鈥� sent by the long and bitter debate over the foreign aid package.
鈥淲hat was so painfully on display and what the world now has to grapple with is an America of such political dysfunction and divisions that it will be difficult to predict where we go from here and where the United States will stand on key issues from one week to the next,鈥� Dr. Kupchan says.
Speaker Johnson may have eventually shown the world that 鈥測ou can count on America to do the right thing,鈥� Duke鈥檚 Dr. Feaver says, paraphrasing Winston Churchill. And 鈥渢here鈥檚 still a strong bipartisan majority that says America is able and determined to lead.鈥� But that does not obscure聽the extent聽to which a torn and chaotic Republican Party聽has damaged America鈥檚 global聽standing, he adds.
The approval of Ukraine aid tells the world that while America鈥檚 leadership instincts remain intact, says Dr. Kupchan, there is no guarantee they will endure.
鈥淭he good news out of this vote is that American internationalism is still robust,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he bad news is that it took so long 鈥� and that while Washington dithered, Ukraine was left to defend itself against Russian aggression.
鈥淭hat,鈥� he adds, 鈥減uts in stark relief the degree to which the internationalism the U.S. has practiced since 1941 can no longer be taken for granted.鈥�
