A tale of two senators

The AP’s Anne Flaherty takes a look at Barack Obama’s Senate record: When Obama took charge of the European affairs subcommittee in early 2007, he didn’t seize the opportunity to scrutinize the Bush administration. With his campaign in full swing, the busy senator did not lead a single policy hearing on any of the hot ...

The AP's Anne Flaherty takes a look at Barack Obama's Senate record:

The AP’s Anne Flaherty takes a look at Barack Obama’s Senate record:

When Obama took charge of the European affairs subcommittee in early 2007, he didn’t seize the opportunity to scrutinize the Bush administration. With his campaign in full swing, the busy senator did not lead a single policy hearing on any of the hot topics in the panel’s jurisdiction: missile defense, counterterrorism and concern over the waning commitment of European countries to NATO.

His approach was in sharp contrast to Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who relied heavily on his full committee chairmanship to push his foreign policy agenda as an aspiring presidential nominee.

Of course, Joe Biden failed to crack single digits and Obama looks to be cruising toward the nomination. If substantive foreign-policy work were what mattered in winning the presidency, Richard Lugar would have been elected long ago.

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