Biden proving to be hands-on No. 2 (AP few days ago)

[Muttocracy]

catching up on Google Alerts - in case any of you missed this - I especially like hearing about his foreign policy stuff

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7K20RiBJeMQhhTZUST64ABObHjAD94EC2680

...
So far, Biden has been working closely with Obama. He has been in almost all the president-elect's meetings at his new government office space in Chicago and has been dispatched to make calls to several foreign leaders.

Biden was asked to smooth over a miscommunication following Obama's phone call with Polish President Lech Kaczynski last week. Kaczynski issued a statement saying Obama vowed to continue with President Bush's missile defense project. But Obama's advisers denied it, and the Polish foreign minister later said it was a misinterpretation on their part.

Biden called Kaczynski a couple of days later to explain that the Obama administration will assess the program before deciding whether to stick with it.

He also spoke this week with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Jordan's King Abdullah II, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair. And he spoke with Israel's foreign and defense ministers, along with Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Obama transition team.

Biden has said he'd like to use his 36 years of experience in the Senate, including leadership of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, to help push Obama's agenda in Congress. It's longtime insider's experience that Obama lacks and a role that has not been Cheney's focus.

...

As reporters left afterward, a Secret Service agent could be heard telling another agent standing guard for the famously reclusive vice president, "I haven't seen press here since I've been here."

...

[Muttocracy]

1. more with Israel

Biden spoke with Israeli candidates

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/13/1000966/biden-spoke-with-israeli-candidates

Biden spoke with Israeli candidates

By Ron Kampeas · November 13, 2008

WASHINGTON (JTA) -Joe Biden spoke with each of the candidates in the coming Israeli elections.

On Thursday, staff for the vice-president elect released a list of foreign leaders with whom he spoke on Monday; of the seven, three were Israeli: Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister who heads the centrist Kadima Party; Ehud Barak, the defense minister who heads the Labor Party on the left; and Benjamin Netanyahu, the opposition leader who heads the rightist Likud Party.

All three are leading their parties into the Feb. 10 elections.

Biden, a 35-year U.S. senator from Delaware whose career focus has been foreign policy, is expected to take a leading diplomatic role in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

Biden also spoke with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is the envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks of the "Quartet," the grouping of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia that guides Middle East peacemaking.

Obama last week spoke with Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli prime minister.

[gateley]

2. These are GREAT! I, too, love that Obama is utilizing Joe's FP expertise and

experience -- and friendships/relationships with the other world leaders. This is how it should be!

[PatSeg]

3. Love the last line about the press!

[jillan]

4. Biden's connections to foreign leaders are definitely an asset to

Obama and the new administration.

And it will be helpful to whomever Obama choses as SoS as Biden will be able to provide phone numbers and email addresses of some of these leaders.