Joe Biden's CODEL to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan: Working All the Angles. . .Like He Should!

[babylonsister]

Joe Biden's CODEL to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan: Working All the Angles. . .Like He Should!




Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of US Senators including Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jack Reed (D-RI) are leaving soon on the last CODEL (Congressional Delegation trip) that the soon-to-be-but-not-yet Vice President will make in his career as a Senator.

Biden and his delegation will travel to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan - and the White House and Obama transition office has made clear that he is traveling there in his current capacity as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and not as the incoming Vice President.

Some protocol snobs at the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute are blasting the Vice President-elect for making this move. They suggest that any comment he makes on the trip will undermine the current "only one President at a time" mantra that Obama and Bush aides have been repeatedly issuing. They think Biden's branding as Foreign Relations Committee Chair rather than VP is not only disingenuous but confusing to foreign leaders that the CODEL will be meeting.

This is silly. These Republican pranksters both inside the White House and out in think tanks are trying to pull with their Biden heckling the equivalent of taking the "W's" off of typewriters as Bill Clinton's outgoing team did to Bush - but targeting Biden instead of Obama.

Biden's bipartisan trip of national security heavyweights in the US Senate is an important step in reestablishing some trust and common purpose in US foreign policy across party lines. This is vital and Biden is creating important outreach - as Obama has said he is doing to key Republicans - particularly Lindsey Graham who was a top tier player in John McCain's campaign.

more...

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009/01/joe_bidens_code/

[ThomWV]

1. I watched Biden being sworn in as a Senator yesterday, anyone see him sworn in as VP yet?

Didn't think so. I hope Senator Biden enjoys his trip and learns things from it that will prove valuable to him when he becomes Vice President.

[babylonsister]

2. This is perfectly legitimate; I'm also glad he's going. nt

[bdamomma]

4. can't keep a good man down.

he wants to see what is happening. Yes, he has not be sworn in to be VP yet.

[JNelson6563]

3. Go Joe!

:toast: