Of course their actions are sometimes noteworthy or very embarrassing as in the case of Dan Quayle who could not spell the word "potato," or Spiro Agnew who was compelled to resign his office in 1973 on charges of accepting bribes. The more prominent include others like Lyndon B. Johnson, who took over after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The cliff-hanger that Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama, let loose in the small hours of one morning last week -- the surprise selection of Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate -- fell with a thud. The vice presidential nominee surfaced with a bag full of good and bad news and an acknowledgment by Obama that he needs his help in conducting foreign affairs should he move into the White House.

Biden has been in the senate since 1972, days after he turned 30. In 1987, he announced his short-lived candidacy for president, and last July he was eliminated from running in his party's presidential primary. Throughout his career in the Senate, his primary focus was on foreign affairs and at present he is the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Despite his vast experience and extensive travels overseas, his record, especially on the Middle East, is checkered and many in the region would consider it disappointing. Much as Obama may have raised expectations there, Biden will have to embellish his stance forthwith to keep these hopes high.

His earlier views on Iraq, under U.S. occupation since 2003, were initially disastrous as when he advocated the partitioning of the country into three autonomous regions -- Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish. His suggestion underscored his ignorance that Iraqis (except possibly for some Kurdish elements) abhorred partition -- and the ensuing outcry in the Arab world amazingly led the senator to drop his suggestion, even from his Web site.

Moreover, his proposal prompted many Iraqi leaders to come together and profess unity anew.

At present he aligns himself with Obama, a junior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Both are critical of the George W. Bush administration's policies there, but Biden has not advocated U.S. withdrawal.

However, the issue that is bound to raise the blood pressure of many an Arab are his views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a respected professional group that delves regularly in foreign affairs and whose membership includes many former high-ranking government officials, describes Biden on its Web site as a "self-described Zionist."

In an interview with an American Jewish newspaper, Biden, often described as "a long-winded orator," has adamantly rejected the suggestion made by "some on the [American] left that the United States should develop a more neutral posture toward Israel."

He explained, "In my 34-year career, I have never wavered from the notion that the only time progress has ever been made in the Middle East is when the Arab nations have known that there is no daylight between us and Israel." In other words, he continued, "...the idea of being the 'honest broker' is not I think, like some of my Democratic colleagues call for, is not the answer. It is being the smart broker, it is being the smart partner."

The CFR Web site also noted that Biden dismissed the "claim" by the Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James A Baker III and Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is related to the problems of the Iraq War, arguing in a television interview that Israel's behavior has "nothing to do" with Iraq.

But what has irked some in the American Jewish community has been Biden's position on Iran. In Israel he is also seen as "inconsistent" about the alleged Iranian nuclear threat. Haaretz said that the senator "has said more than once that he does not think that isolating Iran is the most efficient way to combat the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions, and he has even urged sensitivity to Iran's need." Yet, he maintains that a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable."

Biden was unable to convince the Bush administration to drop its opposition to Israeli peace overtures toward Syria, unlike his ability to convince the Clinton administration to arm the Bosnian Muslims during the sectarian war in the mid-1990's, an achievement that he reportedly considers his most important foreign policy accomplishment.

This mixed and colorless bag of Biden, not much different than current failed U.S. policies, is yet another reason why the long-winded promises of "change" advocated by Obama must begin to surface, considering the stagnant Middle East trouble spots, and now the recent flare-ups in Georgia, North Korea, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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George Hishmeh is a syndicated columnist.