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笔谤别蝉颈诲别苍迟听Barack Obama聽and other top administration officials rallied around Vice 笔谤别蝉颈诲别苍迟听Joe Biden聽on Wednesday after former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates criticized him sharply in a memoir.

Gates, who led the聽Pentagon聽from 2006 to 2011 under Republican 笔谤别蝉颈诲别苍迟听George W. Bush聽and then Obama, said in his book, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War," that Biden聽had been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

The comments, reported in media accounts about the book, were especially stinging about a man who has made foreign policy a large part of his portfolio as Obama's No. 2.

罢丑别听White House聽said on Tuesday that the president did not share Gates' assessment of Biden. On Wednesday, in what appeared to be a deliberate show of support, Obama had lunch with Biden聽in a dining room near the Oval Office and invited photographers to take pictures of the event.

Obama and Biden聽meet regularly for lunch but, news photographers are almost never allowed to attend.

Reporters grilled spokesman聽Jay Carney聽about the book and Biden's role in the administration on Wednesday, prompting a spirited response.

"As a senator and as a vice president,聽Joe Biden聽has been one of the leading statesmen of his time and he has been an excellent counselor and adviser to the president for the past five years," Carney said.

"The president has said many times that he greatly appreciates the advice and counsel the vice president gives him on matters both domestic and foreign. And that is absolutely the case."

Carney said the timing of photographers being allowed to shoot pictures of the two leaders' lunch was coincidental. 罢丑别听White House聽press corps has been pressing for more access for photographers and reporters to such events.

Elsewhere in Washington, other allies were also quick to come to the vice president's defense.

"Isn't it the duty of those who serve the president to raise policy and personnel concerns while still in government and not in a memoir?"聽Tommy Vietor, a former聽White House聽national security spokesman, said in a tweet, knocking Gates.

State Department spokesman聽Jen Psaki聽said Secretary of State聽John Kerry, who served with Biden聽in the聽Senate, was an admirer.

"There's almost no one he respects more in terms of his foreign policy expertise," Psaki said.

Not all of the voices were supportive, however. Republican Senator聽John McCain, who said he has great affection for Biden, told CNN that Biden聽"has been wrong on a number of occasions."

Biden and Obama are described as having a strong relationship. The vice president is in the mix of Democratic candidates who may run to succeed Obama in the 2016 presidential election.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, and Eric Beech; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)