Biden’s presidency has never been so hectic. Here’s why he’s at ease.

“He’s doing as best he can in a miserable pile of crap. That’s what he’s doing.”

He has been working just like he always has, said Alan Simpson, who served with Biden. Simpson saw Biden's background as an asset in difficult times, despite the fact that Biden has faced criticism that his Senate tenure can make him too accommodating in forging consensus.

He said that he was doing as best he could in a pile of rubbish.

Biden expanded his service on the Foreign Relations Committee during his time in the Senate. He was a ranking member from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to 2007, and chair from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2009, but he left the chamber to serve as vice president. He was a vocal advocate for the U.S. to engage in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. He played a major role in both the Iraq wars and throughout his career.

Biden's long tenure in the Senate was cited by his critics as proof that he was too prone to get involved in intractable issues overseas and too self-assured in his own world view. His insistence and repeated defense of his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan has pleased progressives. Biden and his team view the current situation in Ukraine as fulfillment of a decades-long belief in multilateralism and strong international institutions.

President Biden was built for this moment because of his long experience in foreign policy and his understanding of the region.

Biden's time on the Foreign Relations Committee helped him hone his beliefs. He was able to make connections to world leaders in the White House.

He said that all the leaders of Europe at one time were parliamentarians, and that Joe Biden had been meeting with them since 1976. President Biden worked on foreign policy issues for 30 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Biden leaned on the multilateralism approach he came to value while serving on the Foreign Relations Committee. Biden's focus has been on keeping allies united and not asking them to do anything outside the realm of possibility, aides said. The people on the committee where Biden once served see a line between his time there and what he is doing now.

This is the moment when Americans decided to put Biden in the White House and he exceeded their expectations, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

It could give Biden an opportunity to rebuild trust with the American public, as well as with allies abroad, after the disastrous exit from Afghanistan. Hagel spoke to many ambassadors and former foreign and defense ministers who were shocked by what happened.

It did happen, but how could this happen with Biden in charge? He suffered because of that.

Biden's handling of Russian aggression has been spot on, according to Hagel.

I have been all over the world with him. He studied politics. Hagel said that he really did study it. The former senator was on the Foreign Relations Committee with Biden. He said he didn't see Biden become captive to his experience.

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Biden's time on the Foreign Relations Committee is the only one that is close to his time on the Judiciary. He was involved in seven confirmation fights, including the hearings for Thomas. Those were marked by fireworks on the all-white and male panel and resulted in longstanding criticisms of Biden for his treatment of Thomas. Biden was seen as fumbling that moment in a desire to appear fair to both parties, and for failing to call additional witnesses who could have supported Hill's claims. He expressed his regrets. Hill wants the president to do more to end gender violence.

Biden's time on the Judiciary was so long that he had a close relationship with several of the people who worked for him. The approach to the confirmation process was taken by him in his first year as chair, according to his former boss, the majority staff director on the committee. David Souter was nominated to the high court by President George H.W. Bush and Democrats immediately opposed him. Biden was in favor of confirmation.

It would have been easy for Joe Biden to go along with the reaction of the democrats. We are going to take some time here. I will be studying David Souter's record.

Biden is hoping that he can use his Senate and Judiciary experience to get some Republican support for Jackson. He's called Sen. Collins three times to discuss the Supreme Court. Every single senator is due a show of respect and deference, and he reminds his staff frequently.

People who have known Biden since his early Senate days say he is not naive about the modern Republican party.

According to current and former aides, one benefit of Biden's experience is that he has a lot of people to call when he wants to talk about a nominee. Biden has turned to Tribe. He recalled that during the failed Bork nomination, Biden found the nominee's statement to be problematic.

Biden didn't like the idea that someone wants to exercise power over others because it would be fun.

Biden's current and former staffers say that he was prepared for his own nominee selection process because of the time he spent studying constitutional law and the Supreme Court confirmation process. Kaufman described Jackson's nomination as a well-oiled machine.

It looks simple now, but he knew what to look for, what to ask for, and what to listen for to get around potential problems, according to a former top Judiciary staffer.

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The two worlds that Biden occupied when he was on Judiciary and Foreign Relations were often at odds. One of Biden's Foreign Relations staffers would often wait for him to leave the briefings to discuss the committee actions.

Biden jumped from his seat when foreign affairs aides interrupted him with an update that they didn't think could wait.

We had to pull him away from Foreign Relations when we were working on Judiciary. Victoria Nourse, Biden's top lawyer on the panel in the early 1990s, later served as his chief counsel in the Vice President's office. 30 years ago, it was normal.

The fall of the Berlin Wall made an impression on Biden aides. He was forced to balance the reordering of Europe with court nominations and sweeping legislation to address rising crime and the proliferation of illegal drugs because of the natural workload of the two committees.

For a long time, it took more of his time to work on the Judiciary committee.

When Biden was given the chance to chair the Foreign Relations Committee in 2001, he chose it.

The tug and pull is the same. Biden's presidency is being affected by Russia's war in Ukraine. It is taking up his time. Not all of it. As national security colleagues leave the room in order for her to give Biden an update on the Supreme Court nominee, she will wait outside the Oval Office.

When he was in the Senate, he was able to do this back and forth so smoothly that it was a result of what he was doing there. No one else is better suited to drive them at the same time.