Can’t America do better than Biden and Trump?

Joe Biden and Donald Trump ‘looked ordinary at best’ in their presidential debate. Picture: AFP

With heartfelt and sincere apologies to the RSL, looking at the US presidential debate convinces me that age does weary them and the years do condemn.

The two old men running for the highest office in the land looked ordinary at best. If you were looking for inspiration you would have been disappointed and if looking for a statesman you’d still be crying in your beer.

This is not the first time I have looked at those running for president in disbelief that the US can’t do better. It makes you understand why so many Americans choose not to exercise their basic right to vote.

Chris Wallace did his best as moderator but when you are faced with a president that ill-mannered you have a dilemma. You can’t tell the leader of the free world to shut up and give his opponent a fair go. Joe Biden tried to get some uninterrupted time but faced an uphill battle against the rudest president in history.

Many a European leader has been aghast at Donald Trump’s ignorance on foreign affairs and his blustering approach hinders his relationship with them. This President is an accident determined to happen again and again.

Trump complains constantly about fake news and rails about the giant media conspiracy trying to bring him down. In reality he is the best thing to happen to news and current affairs radio and television programs. If he is not insulting a world leader he is saying something totally outrageous about the Democrats. He is a human headline and I think in truth, in his quiet moments, he relishes the attention.

Trump supporters watch the first presidential debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden kept hammering away at a vital weak point of the President: he has no economic plan. Trump’s preference is to deal with problems as they present themselves rather than to get ahead of the game.

Every American president drapes themselves in the flag and visits the troops at home and in harm’s way as often as they can. It is a powerful image and it does resonate with the mob, who are far more nationalistic than Australians. Walk down any ordinary street in the wealthy or poor areas there and every second house has a flag on top of a pole or hanging from the front veranda. Australians seem to be embarrassed to do the same — maybe this will change when this country is mature enough to have its own flag.

For Australian political leaders there is still considerable mileage in visiting the troops in places such as Afghanistan. Tony Abbott did it with great effect and Scott Morrison continues in that vein.

Mind you, Gough Whitlam will forever hold the title for having made the most important overseas trip by an Australian prime minister. When he and Mick Young went to China long before it was fashionable, he gained for Australia a special place in Beijing’s heart. That place is in jeopardy for all the right reasons. The Prime Minister has offended the Chinese over his stance on an independent probe into the sources of COVID-19. Sometimes doing what is right can cause you pain but it is always the best course of action.

We are now presented with a golden opportunity to revise our trading strategy and look wider than China. The Indian middle class is growing at a phenomenal rate and they are voracious spenders on good food. This is a chance for Australia to get in early. We have a significant Indian community here and they can help spearhead our entry into the second biggest market.

While slow to start, we can be quick to finish. What’s more, South America has been almost ignored as a partner in our trading strategy and that weakness must be addressed.

US President Donald Trump (L) and Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden square off during the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

Our military alliance with the US remains absolutely critical. Constant vigilance by our ambassador in the US is required because Trump is by inclination an isolationist who believes in America first and foremost. Fortunately the defence establishment there still has Australia firmly on its radar. Not that security in the Pacific should be the responsibility only of Australia and the US; Japan and to a lesser extent Indonesia should share a greater part of the heavy lifting. The Japanese must ramp up defence spending. Japan is a wealthy First World nation and should no longer be allowed to shirk its responsibilities.

During the past couple of decades the stability of the Chinese leadership has been fragile, to say the least. Coups and counter-coups came. Now President Xi Jinping has eliminated his rivals and is the unchallenged dictator of 1.5 billion people.

The Chinese are clever and resourceful as well as enormously powerful. Diplomatic relations with them will never be easy because the Chinese don’t care if they are cast as the villains. They know they are too big too ignore and their vast military arsenal makes them just about bullet proof. They are brilliant bullies who are unconstrained by the normal rules of international behaviour. Get in their road and you will be squashed. That’s why it is so hard to find the Chinese opposition. They are all in the gulags.