OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Biden went off script during his speech in Poland and confirmed what Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspected. That the president wants him out of power in Russia, an expert has claimed.
On Saturday, Biden gave a speech in which many believed he called for regime change in Russia, a take that The White House has denied.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” the White House said.
But many in the media did not see it that way.
On Putin, the president said, “For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power.”
Biden referring to Putin: "for god sake, this man cannot remain in power. " pic.twitter.com/rYMogy5xeb
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) March 26, 2022
“This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response.
“Biden on Putin: ‘this man cannot remain in power’ for the first time, overtly embracing regime change in Russia,” CNN reporter John Harwood said.
Biden on Putin: "this man cannot remain in power"
for the first time, overtly embracing regime change in Russia
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 26, 2022
“WARSAW — ‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,’ said Biden, referring to Putin, as he closes out his big speech in Poland. Worth noting that the Biden administration so far has been at pains to NOT even hint at anything approximately regime change,” MSNBC political analyst Ashley Parker said.
WARSAW — "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," said Biden, referring to Putin, as he closes out his big speech in Poland.
Worth noting that the Biden administration so far has been at pains to NOT even hint at anything approximately regime change.
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) March 26, 2022
The White House has claimed that the comment was off script, but Richard Haass, the Council on Foreign Relations president, said that the comments being off script actually makes it worse, Politico reported.
“The fact that it was so off-script in some ways makes it worse,” he said because it could be seen by Putin as Biden’s genuine belief as opposed to words written for him.
It also could diminish Putin’s interest in compromise and increase his temptation to escalate in Ukraine, “because if he believes he has everything to lose then he’ll believe he has nothing to lose,” Haass said.
Haass said a senior Biden official, possibly the national security adviser or the secretary of state, needs to reach out to their Russian counterpart and explain that Biden’s comment was made in the heat of the moment, doesn’t reflect U.S. policy and that they remain committed to working with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
And Fox News reported that another expert said the president’s comments would reinforce Putin’s belief that Biden wants him gone.
“Putin heard loud and clear a call for regime change,” Russian-born former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler said.
Putin has long suspected that Washington was working on regime change, possibly through a “color revolution” to orchestrate a civil society uprising to bring about his ouster, according to Koffler.
So Biden’s remark at the end of his address in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw confirmed Putin’s suspicions, said Koffler, the author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America.”
She said that the fact that the White House walked back the comments so quickly shows how dangerous they were at a time when Russia is hanging on the president’s every word.
“I would be interested in knowing whether that was in his TelePrompTer or not, because people who create his speeches have a responsibility for the American people to minimize security threats,” she said. “And if they put something like that in his TelePrompTer, that means those people are incompetent.”
The comments came at the end of a long speech in which the president portrayed Ukraine as the front line in the fight between autocracy and democracy.
”My message to the people of Ukraine is … we stand with you. Period,” he said in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.
“We emerged anew in the great battle for freedom, a battle between democracy and autocracy. Between liberty and oppression. Between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force,” he said. “In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead.”
