German politicians praise Biden nomination

BERLIN, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- German politicians are happy that Barack Obama chose as his running mate Sen. Joseph Biden, an expert in foreign policy.

Gert Weisskirchen, a senior official of the center-left Social Democrats, said Biden's nomination as a potential vice president was a good sign for Europeans, as the senator from Delaware is a seasoned expert in European affairs.

" He would never come to a classification put forward by the former U.S. Defense Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld, who spoke of an old and a new Europe," Weisskirchen told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Eckart von Klaeden, a foreign policy expert of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats, said Biden's nomination was an attempt to make up for a lack of experience in foreign policy matters.

The opposition Free Democrat lawmaker Werner Hoyer told the newspaper that Obama and Biden would bank on dialogue instead of confrontation, for example in conflicts with Russia and Iran.

Obama is hugely popular in Germany, where 74 percent of the population would vote for the Democratic nominee, with only 11 percent for Republican contender John McCain, according to a recent poll.

Last month Obama spoke in front of 200,000 people in downtown Berlin, a move that further boosted his popularity in Europe.