President Joe Biden’s first major speech on national security at the virtually-held Munich Security Conference will not be remembered in the same historical annals as Obama’s Cairo address or Reagan’s Evil Empire speech. As expected, Biden sought to draw a distinct line between himself and his predecessor, repeatedly assuring allies that the U.S. is committed to the transatlantic relationship and portraying the last four years as an exception to longstanding American policies. The rest of the speech gave an overview of various geopolitical challenges from China and the Iranian nuclear program to pandemic prevention and climate change, with high-level positioning points about each.
