An expert in international affairs, Joe Biden moves to White House

[bychance]

AFP: An expert in international affairs, Biden moves to White House

An expert in international affairs, Biden moves to White House

4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — After making the US Senate his second home for decades, Joe Biden on Tuesday will move to his vice presidential digs in Washington, eager to lend his world affairs and congressional expertise to Barack Obama's team.


When he becomes vice president of the United States, Biden, who is known not only for his warmth and smile but also for his gaffes, will begin a second career after 36 years in the US Senate, representing the state of Delaware.
He was absent in the Senate chamber only for seven months in 1988 when he was hospitalized due to illness.


If for any reason president-elect Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on Tuesday, is unable to continue in his job as president, Biden, 66, will take the reins of the US government.


After referring to Vice President Dick Cheney as the most dangerous vice president in US history, Biden believes his role at the White House should be defined by strict constitutional limits.


Shortly before leaving the Senate, where he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden visited Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.


His foreign policy expertise will provide valuable help to Obama in grappling with intractable foreign policy issues such as Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Iran and its nuclear ambitions.


Biden grew up in an Irish-Catholic family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a former steel and mining town long-affected by industrial decline in the second half of the 20th century.


His down-to-earth style and appeal to traditional grassroots Democrats gave him an edge in connecting with some working-class voters who were initially wary of Obama and his unusual background.


"Biden is certainly an asset to Obama. Biden has travelled very widely, has a strong sense of US external interests and is widely believed to be wise on the general topic of foreign affairs," said Richard Langhorne, a professor at Rutgers in New Jersey.


The young Biden moved to Delaware at age 10 when his father relocated in search of employment.


On the campaign trail, the senator often reflected on his childhood with stories culled from the streets of Scranton, which at times he had to walk barefoot as his family was so poor.


Growing up, he was also hampered by a debilitating stutter so bad he was cruelly nick-named "Dash."


Biden has a compelling life story to match that of Obama.


He was first elected to the US Senate at 29, in 1972, and shortly afterward he lost his wife and baby daughter in a car crash that also left his two young sons badly injured.


Biden took his oath of office at their hospital bedside and for the next few decades commuted daily to Washington by train so he could be home each night with his boys.


As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Biden has met many of the leading actors of the world stage and is an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush's foreign policy.


Unlike Obama though, Biden was initially in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but has been critical of how the conflict has been handled since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled.


His Republican detractors also point out that he was against the first Gulf War in 1991, and that in 2006 he suggested partitioning Iraq between its Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish regions.


But the senator, who is on the telephone lists of many world leaders, was among the first to call former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic a war criminal, and to urge the US war-on terror military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba be closed.


"Senator Biden brings a pragmatic, non-ideological approach to world affairs. He understands the importance of American leadership, but also knows the limits to American power," said expert William Antholis from the Brookings Institution.


"Senator Biden is particularly strong in understanding how the United States and its major allies need to work together to address a range of global challenges.


"You can expect his input to be particularly keen on Iraq, Iran, and Russia, where the US and its allies have not always seen eye-to-eye."

[kingcap72]

Biden believes his role at the White House should be defined by strict constitutional limits.

That wouldn't have been true of Vice-President Palin. She would've been looking to be co-president while spiking McCain's Metamucil with anthrax.

[lurkur]

I just had a quick flashback to his debate. mmm

[buttmunch]

^^Yeah, I was just remembering how absolutely silver fox hot he was during the election. I like Joe, gaffes and all. He strikes me as an inherently decent man.

[sputnik]

^^^
me too.
i think his gaffes are part of why i like him - to me they make him more natural and less of a slick politician. i like that he says what he really thinks.

[cmmdee]

That wouldn't have been true of Vice-President Palin. She would've been looking to be co-president while spiking McCain's Metamucil with anthrax.

LOL. At least Biden knows what a vice president DOES! Can you imagine? LOL

[bychance]

I was searching Biden on the google, and I realized he ran for president in 1988! I never knew that.

[czb]

^^^ yeah, and a scandel ensued. surprised that more peeps weren't aware of this.

[witchcurlgirl]

^^ I'm not surprised that more peeps don't know this. But I have low expectations of people

yes, he bowed out due to charges of plagiarism of speeches, and that he stole Neil Kinnock's life story as his own .......then it came out he was accused of plagiarizing papers in law school...... then it was discovered that he outright lied about his going to law school on a scholarship, lied and said he earned three degrees, and that he lied and said graduated in the top half of his class. He also was caught lying about participating in sit-ins during the civil rights movements.


I've always liked him, but he's famous for more than just putting his foot in his mouth.

[czb]

^^^ well, we agree about all the other points.