Biden: I Am Not "Deputy President"

[ProSense]

January 25, 2009, 11:16 AM

Biden: I Am Not "Deputy President"

Posted by Michelle Levi

In his first interview as Vice President, Joseph Biden told CBS News' Bob Schieffer that he does not see his role to be "deputy president." Rather, said he hopes to be a "confidant, advisor and essentially the last guy in the room when makes critical decisions."

Appearing on Face The Nation this morning, Biden was asked how he views his role in comparison to his predecessor Dick Cheney, arguably the "single most powerful vice president."

Biden responded that "hopefully" he can "help shape policy" with President Obama, noting that "thus far that is how it has worked."

"The agreement that he and I made is that I would be available for every single major decision that he makes … that I would have all the paper, all the material, all the meetings," he said. "Again, not for me to make decisions, for me to give the best advice that I can give."

The Vice President explained that before he agreed to become Obama's running mate, he said, "I don't want to be on the ticket unless you are hiring me on for my judgment."

[BlooInBloo]

1. BlooInBloo to Biden: The more you justify your existence, the smaller you look.

[ProSense]

4. Given the last eight years, Biden is right to emphasize the differences. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

11. (facepalm)

As if there's only *1* way to do that.

And as if that contrary-to-fact unique way of skinning the cat is to keep repeating how important you are.

[ProSense]

14. "keep repeating how important you are." Really? That's what you took away from his statement?

You seem to be implying that people need to be convinced (or are likely to forget) that the VP is important.

[BlooInBloo]

23. Any literate person would take that away as the primary concern...

... that Biden is wrestling with in his response (considered en toto) to Schieffer. That response, which he has been breathlessly repeating over and over and over, these last few days.

It would appear that there are but two sorts of people who might be inclined to reason from the premise *the VP role is no longer like Cheney's* to the conclusion *the VP is an empty role*: idiots on the one hand, and Biden himself on the other.

(For those whose mental hamsters are on strike:) The import of the preceding statement may be recognized by realizing that if the goal is *merely* to say "I'm different from Cheney", then there's no need for over 96% of Biden's response.** The only thing that can justify the presence of the remainder - the vast majority - of Biden's response, is Biden believing that there is reason to doubt his relevance (whether or not we non-insiders are aware of those reasons).

On the Biden branch of the above alternative, it requires no more than a minimal intellect (yours truly's suffices, for example) to come up with plausible conjectures as to why he feels the need to convince people (in particular, *himself*) of his relevance. Indeed, I was able to come up a priori plausible conjectures at the rate of about 1 per minute*. Without being suitably placed within the administration, of course, it is not possible to directly verify such conjectures.


Biden's response was - and it's dead obvious - a classic case of "the gentleman doth protest too much". The topic distribution of 4% "I'm not Cheney" / 96% "Hey Guys!!! I'm important!!!" was kind of a tip off.


Quick trivia facts:
- FtN transcript here: http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/FTN_012509.doc

- Percentage of Biden's response directed towards him being different from Cheney: 3 7/11 %.
- Percentage of Biden's response given over to how important he is: 96 4/11 %.



* Here are 4 plausible explanations, independent and pairwise consistent, as to why Biden is so concerned with his relevance, that I came up with in under four minutes of thought:

1) "Thanks for your help with the election, Joe. Please sit over there and be pretty." (I.e., the typical thing that happens to VPs.)
2) Rahm is the Big Dawg on day-to-day issues, and the major Departments have strong leaders.
3) Biden has nominally a higher position than Clinton, but Clinton has received substantially more (benign) attention thus far.
4) "It would be PRETTY STUPID for me to take a job that didn't really have any relevance, now wouldn't it, ?"

(Clearly they need fleshing out, conceptual i's and t's dotted and crossed, but they're clearly plausible reasons-templates.)



** Ironically enough - the vast majority of Biden's response, having the goal of ensuring that Scheiffer, or anyone suitably credulous, understands just how important Biden is, significantly walks back the "Biden's role is not like Cheney's" meme. Really, the only thing needed to turn Biden's "I'm 200 words worth of important" into Cheney's description of his former role appears to be only: actual decision-making power. The very thing, in other words, that would erase any question of Biden's relevance. Ah well - the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. lol!

[ProSense]

24. No, any person wouldn't, especially since he was asked a question, as you have acknowledged.

Biden's response was - and it's dead obvious - a classic case of "the gentleman doth protest too much".

Oh brother!

[Jennicut]

15. I didn't see a problem with what Biden said.

He simply said he would be a trusted adviser to Obama. Maybe because he talks a lot in general is sounded like he was saying he would be important over and over but that is just the way Biden talks. LOL.

[WheelWalker]

18. ???

[Muttocracy]

7. Schieffer asked him a question about how he'd compare himself to Cheney. nt

[Jennicut]

8. Right, and he said he would not be like Cheney who ran a co-presidency

But for better or worse I think the Vice Presidency has gotten more powerful over the years. It started with Mondale. The VP's since then (discounting the idiot Quayle) have all played some important role.

[BlooInBloo]

9. That is true.

[Muttocracy]

13. kind of a waste of a question - he's answered that over and over. nt

[Jennicut]

2. I think this will be a good partnership. A VP who will be a trusted adviser but not

running a shadow government like Cheney.

[sandnsea]

3. Consiglieri

Okay Joe. Good enough. But the consiglieri is supposed to be a bit in the background, seems to me.

[Muttocracy]

5. Obama must have wanted him to go on FTN for some reason? nt

[sandnsea]

10. Probably to discuss Afghanistan

Hopefully he will stay on task more in the future.

[WheelWalker]

21. I try to see things as they are,

rather than imagine what they should have been. It is not always so easy, I will admit.

[Mojambo]

6. I think it's physically impossible for Joe Biden to fit into the background.

And Obama knows it.

Biden's gonna be out there, for better or worse.

[sandnsea]

12. lol, true enough n/t

[Still Sensible]

16. And as far as I'm concerned, that's just fine

[lunatica]

17. Wouldn't the consiglieri by Rham Emmanuel?

The Vice President is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. Additionally, the Vice President also serves as the President of the Senate, but only has the ability to break tie votes in that chamber. In recent times, the President has assigned the Vice President additional duties that fall outside the Vice President's constitutional duties. The Vice President, however, only performs such duties as an agent of and at the discretion of the President.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States

[sandnsea]

20. Not as Biden describes it

He's the last person in the room when decisions are made. That's the consiglieri. I don't know who Rahm would be, I didn't watch the Godfather quite that closely.

[lunatica]

22. So I looked it up and it's the position of adviser...

I thought it was something akin to the office manager, which is more like what Rahm does with the Presidential Staff and as the President's time/calendar keeper.

[aikoaiko]

19. well, now the phrase has been coined. Deputy President Biden.

:rofl: