Biden’s Top Diplomat Blinken Says He Aims To Revitalize Alliances, US Leadership

U.S. President-elect 👤Joe Biden’s nominee to be secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday that he will work to revitalize damaged American diplomacy and build a united front to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China and Iran.

At his confirmation hearing a day before Democrat Biden takes over from Republican Donald Trump, whose tenure was marked by unilateral action that often upset traditional U.S. friends, Blinken said he would work with allies and with humility.

“We do have a big task ahead of us in restoring, revitalizing those relationships. I do think it starts… with showing up again,” said Blinken. “Some of our allies and partners question the sustainability of our commitments based on the past few years and that’s going to be a hard hill to climb.”

Blinken, 58, a veteran foreign policy hand and close Biden confidant, said he believed U.S. leadership was vital, but should also benefit those at home.

“If we want to have (American people’s) support for American leadership, American engagement in the world, we have to demonstrate that it is actually making an improvement in their lives or preventing something,” he said.

There has been no indication that Blinken would face difficulty being confirmed by the Senate. Throughout the hearing, he received bipartisan praise from the senators.

At the end of the 4-1/2-hour hearing, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the committee’s incoming chairman, said he hoped the Senate would confirm Blinken as quickly as possible. Republican Senator Jim Risch, the outgoing chairman, also praised him.

Menendez called Blinken’s testimony a “tour de force.”

Blinken testified at the Capitol complex two weeks after the building representing American democracy was stormed by thousands of members of a pro-Trump mob seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. The unprecedented attack stunned the world, further bruised the reputation of the United States, and gave ammunition to its adversaries.