January 12, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Vice President Biden is not just an ordinary Joe
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, January 12, Graphic News:  He once gifted Republicans the line that Hillary Clinton might have been "a better pick than me" as Barack Obama's number two, but few doubt Joe Biden's foreign policy expertise, formidable debating skills or personal charm in his new role as vice president.

Though still only 66, Biden is elder statesman to Obama's Young Turk. The Washington insider has represented Delaware for more than three decades in the Senate and chaired its Foreign Relations Committee three times. At a time of heightened global uncertainty, this experience has helped allay fears that Obama is ill-prepared as commander-in-chief.

But Biden has plenty of life experience, too. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1942, his working class roots have afforded Biden, an Irish Catholic, an easy connection with blue collar workers. He is seen as a witty, persuasive speaker, if prone to the occasional gaffe.

Biden studied law and worked briefly as a lawyer before being elected to the Senate in 1972. Soon afterwards his wife Neilia and baby daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident, and Biden had to juggle senatorial duties with caring for his two injured sons. They eventually made a full recovery, and Biden has a fourth child with his second wife, Jill.

He has survived brain surgery, and the trauma of being found out in after he plagiarized a speech by British Labour politician Neil Kinnock in 1987. That ended a first bid by Biden for the U.S. presidency, and he abandoned a second in 2008 after a poor showing in the Iowa primary. 

A strong critic of his predecessor Dick Cheney, he insists he will play a "broad advisorial role" in the White House. With an escalating crisis in the Middle East and the prospect of more trouble with Iran and Russia, his advice will be called on quickly. Biden backed intervention in Iraq and now favours a division of the country along ethnic lines.
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