The White House had a disastrous start to the week. Can Biden right the ship in Europe?

The days leading up to President Joe Biden's highly touted trip to Europe did not play out as the White House had hoped, and questions remain as to whether or not he can regain control of the narrative while overseas.

The White House has been framing Biden's attendance at the 2021 G-7 summit, and various face-to-face meetings with foreign dignitaries, as an opportunity to assure U.S. allies that the current administration is capable of retaking its place atop the international pantheon. 

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that Biden hopes to "show the rest of the world that the United States has the power and purpose to be able to deliver as the world's leading democracy."
 
National Economic Council Deputy Director Sameera Fazili outlined Tuesday how the president will stress supply chain resilience and the need to invest in the green energy industry to G-7 members and, in doing so, possibly convince congressional Republicans to sign on with the administration's infrastructure proposals.

However, Tuesday's total breakdown in infrastructure negotiations and the numerous hiccups scattered throughout Vice President Kamala Harris's tour of Guatemala and Mexico muddied that clean narrative.

Randy Jones, a Democratic strategist and founder of United Public Affairs, says the past two days make "clear that the honeymoon is over for the administration."

"That being said, President Biden has a number of legislative standout wins under his belt, and they can’t let setbacks like a complete lack of cooperation from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on infrastructure overshadow what we elected him to do in the wake of Trump: be a statesman," he said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "I look for the President to shine this week while putting our nation's best foot forward on the world stage."

Republican strategist Adam Goodman offered a more sour assessment of Biden's prospects over the next week. 

"I don't think that we should hold our breath that something major is going to come out of this," he told the Washington Examiner of the summit and Biden's subsequent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The worst headline would be that America no longer sits at the head of the table, that they are around the table, but not the head of the table."

"This is something that the Biden administration has some time to correct," Goodman continued. "But I think this week is not going to be a banner week for them."

Senior GOP aides interviewed by the Washington Examinerˆ were particularly critical of Harris's performance in Central America.

One aide questioned why the administration would send someone with no true foreign policy experience on such an important mission days before Biden's trip, while another doubted that any foreign policy wins Biden could secure from U.S. allies would make up for Harris's handling of the immigration situation.

“Kamala Harris’s first foreign trip was a disaster from the start. Both the Guatemalan and El Salvadorian presidents rebuked the Biden-Harris administration’s border failures as driving the illegal immigration crisis," a third aide claimed in a statement. "Let alone her disastrous interviews and nervous-tic laughter when pushed about visiting the border, reminding the world why Harris dropped out two months before the Iowa Caucuses."