In February 2021, two weeks after he moved into the White House, President Biden reminded the nation’s diplomats of his promise to restore American leadership in the world. In a speech at the State Department, he summed up his election in three words: “America is back.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Biden will confront the limits of that promise when he addresses world leaders at the United Nations for his fourth and final time as president. The White House says he will make the case that his “vision for a world where countries come together to solve big problems” has “produced results, real achievements for the American people and the world” after the isolationist and chaotic Trump era alienated many global leaders.
But all around Mr. Biden, there are problems yet to be solved. In Gaza, a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas remains elusive after 11 months of fighting. The escalating volley of missiles across the Israel-Lebanon border poses the threat of a multifront war in the Middle East. The war between Russia and Ukraine is dragging deep into its third year with no end in sight.
“America’s back, all right — he can make that case — but with severe limitations on its capacity to lead,” said Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator who has advised presidents of both parties. “Biden’s administration is a cautionary tale, I think, of just how complicated and surprising the international environment is, and the limitations of American power.”
White House officials, speaking anonymously on Monday evening to preview Mr. Biden’s remarks, offered few specifics. They said he would use his speech to talk about an array of issues, including about the climate crisis and the environment; the need to strengthen systems for providing humanitarian assistance to strife-torn areas like Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan; and the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Mr. Biden, who arrived in New York on Monday evening, will also meet on Tuesday with the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, to discuss efforts between the U.N. and the United States to advance peace, safeguard human rights and help countries develop. And he will host a meeting of a coalition to address the global opioid crisis.
Aides say Mr. Biden is likely to have a number of one-on-one meetings with fellow world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, a key tool for a president who has long believed deeply in the power of personal relationships as an instrument of diplomacy. On Wednesday, White House officials said, Mr. Biden will meet with the new president of Vietnam. On Wednesday evening, he will host world leaders and senior U.N. officials for a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
But the speech to his fellow world leaders on Tuesday morning will be the centerpiece of his U.N. visit, and will be a farewell of sorts. Mr. Biden has spent more than 50 years on the world stage — as a senator, including a stint as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, as vice president and as president.
“This is somebody who, for decades, has felt like he was operating at the highest levels, talking with leaders all over the world, defending and advancing American interests,” said Jon B. Alterman, the director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “This is the valedictory for that.”
Mr. Biden’s speech is not expected to be a political one, but it does occur in a political context, at a moment of great uncertainty about America’s future role in the world. If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidential election in November, her foreign policy is likely to mirror Mr. Biden’s own view of American engagement in the world. If former President Donald J. Trump wins, it will mark a return to his isolationist stance; Mr. Trump has little use for global institutions like the United Nations.
With that in mind, White House officials said, Mr. Biden will also use the speech to make the case for strengthening the United Nations and for overhauling and expanding the U.N. Security Council. Still, there is only so much the president can do in the four months he has left in office.
“As he looks out at this world, what he sees is — take your pick — either migraine headaches or root canal operations,” said Mr. Miller, the Middle East peace negotiator. “There’s not a single problem out there that has comprehensive solutions, so it’s all about managing a world that is not transformable — and I think that is a far cry from where he was in January of 2021, and the expectations that the world had for Joe Biden.”
