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President Biden kicks off his final week in office on Monday with a robust defense of his foreign policy, arguing in a speech to be delivered in the afternoon that America has become stronger on his watch.<\/p>\n
With just seven days left until he hands over the White House to President-elect Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden hopes to use his remaining time to frame his historical legacy as a transformational leader who bolstered the United States at home and abroad even in just one term.<\/p>\n
The effort gets underway at 2 p.m. on Monday with a speech at the State Department focused on what he sees as his successes in the international arena. He plans to say that he strengthened U.S. alliances both in Europe in the face of Russian aggression as well as in the Asian-Pacific amid the rise of China. At the same time, he plans to argue that America\u2019s adversaries \u2014 particularly Russia, China and Iran \u2014 are all weaker than when he came to office.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to ask the question: is America stronger than we were four years ago? And he\u2019s going to answer the question with a definitive yes,\u201d Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, said in a preview<\/a> on \u201cState of the Union\u201d on CNN on Sunday. \u201cOur alliances are stronger, as I said before. Our enemies and competitors are weaker. We kept the nation out of war. Every element of American power is stronger today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The speech will be the first this week aimed at presenting the best case for Mr. Biden\u2019s presidency as it comes to an end. He will deliver a broader televised farewell address to the nation in prime time on Wednesday evening, much as many presidents have done. He will also deliver speeches this week on his conservation record and at a farewell ceremony for the commander in chief at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall.<\/p>\n On foreign policy, Mr. Biden has presided over a tumultuous time and Mr. Trump blamed him for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although no U.S. troops are directly involved on the ground in either place. Some critics said the perception of a world aflame and spinning out of Mr. Biden\u2019s control contributed to the erosion of his political popularity at home and ultimately his withdrawal from the election under pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that Biden is handing the presidency back to his predecessor is in part a reflection of his foreign policy shortcomings,\u201d said Peter Rough, director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n \u201cFor most of his time in office, Biden has been on the defensive, first in Ukraine and then in Gaza,\u201d Mr. Rough continued. \u201cThe president\u2019s 1990s-era liberal internationalism may have been well intentioned, but it always felt out of step to me with the power politics of the 2020s.\u201d<\/p>\n