Biden notches political, policy and diplomacy wins to cap year

Call it a December surprise: Joe Biden is on a roll. Approaching the midpoint of his presidency, Biden is racking up an unexpected string of victories at a point when most sitting presidents are long past their honeymoon phase and are confronting a voter backlash. Biden’s poll numbers are still lackluster, hovering in the low 40s. But his policy, political and diplomatic successes appear to have exceeded even his own staff’s expectations and created a durable foundation for a 2024 re-election bid should he choose to run, some Democrats said. The latest came Thursday morning, when Biden delivered the stunning news that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian penal colony in a high-profile prisoner swap.

Biden had been hopeful that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be more apt to free Griner once America’s midterm elections were done, a calculation that proved correct. Just two days after the final contest of the 2022 midterm campaign season, a smiling Biden announced to reporters that Griner was out of prison and on her way home as part of an exchange that involved the release of the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. “Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along,” the president said, standing alongside Griner’s wife, Cherelle. “This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time.” The announcement capped months of behind-the-scenes negotiations over Griner’s fate after Russian authorities said they found cannabis-infused vape cartridges in her luggage in February. The Olympic gold medalist was tried and convicted on drug charges and had been sentenced to nine years. “I’m terrified I might be here forever,” she wrote in a letter delivered to Biden in July.