“Joe Biden has turned to what Obama adviser Ben Rhodes famously called ‘the Blob’—experienced foreign-policy insiders who work comfortably within the key assumptions that have guided U.S. foreign policy since the late 1940s…

“That said, nobody should mistake this for a Republican administration. Mr. Biden’s expected nominees may be centrists, but it is the Democratic mainstream in which they swim. They are, for example, multilateralists not out of pragmatism (like, say, James Baker and George H.W. Bush), but out of conviction… For Team Biden, enhanced international cooperation embodied in rule-driven multilateral institutions is the path, and the only path, to control what many Democrats see as existential menaces to civilization—e.g., nuclear proliferation, great-power wars and climate change.”
Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal

“The concern, for some, over Blinken is not that he is a wild-eyed radical. Rather, it is that his policy views are emblematic of a broader rot within the American establishment— an establishment which has closed ranks in recent days to oppose moves such as leaving Afghanistan. Blinken was among those in the Obama administration, including Secretary of State John Kerry, who advocated privately for ramped-up military action against Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad…

“Blinken’s critics also note that he was staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations committee in 2002– when Biden was its chairman and the upper chamber, including the future president, assented to the Iraq War.”
Curt Mills, The American Conservative

Similarly, “Sullivan was a key architect of the Obama administration's too-deferential foreign policy structures. Which is to say, its willingness to play softball in the 2013-2015 nuclear negotiations, which culminated with the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, its appeasement of China, and its failure to counter exponential increases in Russian aggression… For all of his idiotic praise of Vladimir Putin, Trump has presided over a strengthened NATO, the delivery of lethal arms to Ukraine (which Obama opposed), and the authorization of more aggressive intelligence operations against Moscow…

“[Sullivan] is a good man who wants to do what's best for America. But a man who is wrong on the core concerns. A man who is more comfortable with addressing American enemies with words than confrontation, and with building alliances on the back of requests rather than reciprocity-driven action. In an August conference call, Sullivan hinted that he had little humility or concerns over the Obama administration's failures. Instead, he said, that administration offered an example for Biden to follow.”
Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner

“Trump's ‘America First’ orientation in foreign policy didn't come from nowhere, and didn't triumph at the polls for no reason. It was a blunt response to a foreign policy that appeared to many to have been failing for a quarter century — failing to preserve and enhance American power, and failing to deliver for the American people. In the Balkans and the Baltic states, in Mesopotamia and the Maghreb, and in numerous other places across Europe, Asia, and Africa, America took on more and more open-ended responsibilities… The result, too often, was instability abroad and an increasing strain on America's military…

“Even if Biden's team has learned the essential lesson from the past quarter century, and sets out to rebalance America's international commitments, to set priorities and establish limits, one thing they should have learned from the Obama years is that, in practice, such an effort can look an awful lot like losing. When America pulled out of Iraq and declined to intervene in Syria, ISIS emerged. That doesn't mean that America can't or shouldn't extricate itself from Afghanistan, from Libya, from Yemen — we most certainly can, and we should, because staying is achieving nothing for us. But we can't expect to be rewarded for it.”
Noah Millman, The Week

“The big disappointment is John Kerry as a cabinet-level special envoy for climate. As a negotiator, Mr. Kerry never drives a hard bargain, as his Iran nuclear deal showed. His cabinet status suggests that climate will be a special negotiating priority rather than one issue among many in foreign policy… it is a bad signal if Mr. Biden considers climate to be a leading national security issue. The fracking-led boom in U.S. oil and gas production has enhanced American security in multiple ways…

“It has made the U.S. less dependent on foreign producers and the U.S. economy less hostage to the vagaries of the world oil market. The fall in oil prices, thanks in part to U.S. production, has reduced the clout of dictators in oil-producing countries like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. U.S. natural gas sales also enhance America’s exports and economic influence. Mr. Biden has pledged to return the U.S. to the Paris climate accord, which would be a boon to China. Under that agreement the People’s Republic doesn’t have to reduce carbon emissions at all until 2030, while the U.S. will have to impose vast new rules to cut emissions.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal