CNN’s Bakari Sellers Says Biden ‘Has Done A Damn Good Job’ Handling Afghanistan and Hurricane Crises

CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers said that despite some room for legitimate criticism, President Joe Biden “has done a damn good job” with the dual crises of Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida.

On Friday night’s edition of Don Lemon Tonight, substitute host Laura Coates hosted Sellers and fellow CNN commentator Mark McKinnon to discuss the multiple crises roiling the Biden administration, namely the Afghanistan withdrawal, the hurricane season that’s battering much of the country, the Delta Covid surge, and now a weaker than expected jobs report.

Asked if the president can “turn this around,” Sellers expressed optimism, and a rosier assessment of Biden than his approval ratings would indicate:

LAURA COATES: (L)ook, there is no sugarcoating it. I mean, August was a bad month for the Biden administration and September, I mean, right now isn’t looking much better. I mean, he ran as the adult in the room who could handle tough situations, can he turn this around?

BAKARI SELLERS: You know, he’s president of the United States. He doesn’t get to pick and choose the situations that he’s thrown into. I mean, the fact is the president of the United States ended a 20-plus-year war. There is some questions, no doubt, and criticisms that’s valid about the way that we withdraw drew from Afghanistan. But the fact is, we had the largest scale humanitarian mission ever run in a foreign country in the history of this United States of America and it was successful in getting people out.

So, when you look at that, you look at the Hurricane Ida, which just hit New Orleans and hit New York and just ravaged many places in between. The president of the United States actually had FEMA and other assistance there when needed.

And so, you know, I’m sure that if Joe Biden had an opportunity to sit back and pick and choose which catastrophes he was going to deal with at which point or which foreign policy ills he was going to have to deal with at a certain point, he would have chosen it differently.

But he’s the president of the United States and he doesn’t get that privilege. You know, I think that he can handle some things better than he has certainly. But at the end of the day, I think the president of the United States has done a damn good job at protecting the interest of the United States of America and actually ensuring the safety and security of all of us.

McKinnon observed that although the bad news is very bad, it is to Biden’s political benefit that it is happening now rather than closer to a midterm or general election.

Watch above via CNN.