US president’s contacts list is unmatched since George HW Bush’s, but his VP has been slowly building her portfolio
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Despite his recent memory lapses and malapropisms, Joe Biden has a store of knowledge about foreign policy and foreign leaders no other senior Democrat can match.
Indeed, in the final days as he battled to retain his candidacy, his unparalleled experience was increasingly cited by his supporters as a reason in perilous times not to force him out. He himself has said he knows more about foreign policy than Henry Kissinger, and accolades to his qualities given by world leaders at the recent Nato summit in Washington were cited by the Biden team as a sign that Americans could not afford to lose him.