Help. What does this bad article about B & J mean??

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/20/obama-distracted-bidens-indiscipline-book-asserts/

I HAVE READ AND REREAD THE HIGHLIGHTED PARAGRAPH AND STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Obama 'Distracted' by Biden's 'Indiscipline,' Book Asserts
The president is so "distracted by his vice president's indiscipline" that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Biden, according to a new book by Richard Wolffe.
By Bill Sammon

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009


"He can't keep his mouth shut," Wolffe quotes a "senior Obama aide" as saying of the gaffe-prone Biden in "Renegade: The Making of a President," set for release June 2.

As evidence, Wolffe reports that during the presidential transition period, Biden insulted Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's closest friends and confidantes. Jarrett had been considered Obama's top choice to fill his vacated Senate seat in Illinois, but took herself out of the running just hours after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly told a wiretapped conference call he would not heed any Obama recommendation without a payoff.

"Soon after Jarrett pulled out of consideration for the Senate seat, the senior transition team met to discuss cabinet picks," Wolffe writes. "Biden tried to compliment Jarrett after one contribution. 'You should be in the Senate,' he quipped. After the meeting, as everyone returned to their offices, Obama stopped Biden to warn him not to say anything like that again. 'It's not funny,' he told him."

Obama ended up naming Jarrett a senior presidential adviser. After taking her post in the White House, Jarrett remarked on her boss's private communications with his inner circle.

"Very few people have his BlackBerry e-mail," she told Wolffe. "And they are very careful about using it."

MORE AT LINK

[enough]

1. One thing I have not noticed about Barack Obama is that he is distracted. (nt)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. you are right - I can't imagine him doing more than he does now, can

you?

I am sorry, but this story, about Jarrett and Joe, bothers me. It makes me think that Obama is not as flexible and caring about other people's opinions as he would like you to think. I personally think that Joe is not being treated with the respect I think he deserves. And to allow senior advisor leaks to Newsweek on a rift sucks.

Don't take this wrong - I wanted him in there. I worked my butt off for him. I think he was giving the worst possible circumstances to dig the country out of. I think he will accomplish a lot. But my intuition tells me there could be one fatal flaw in him. I sensed it during the election. I think he may be much more anal and rigid than we have been led to believe.

That being said, no one is perfect.

[tavalon]

2. Faux News.com

There's your problem, right there.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. did you read this? It's excerpted from Newsweek.n/t

[jbnow]

8. Do you have the Newsweek link? nt

[countingbluecars]

4. A little gossipy tidbit

to sell books.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Hmm. I have always got the feeling that Richard Wolfe was on the

up and up.

Still don't really understand those paragraphs.

[rvablue]

19. What's to understand. What I don't understand is why you are so confounded by what was correctly

described as a "gossipy tidbit."

I guess you have led a mistake-free, gaffe-free, life....

Have you never been told/asked by a boss/authority figure to "tone it down" or "watch your step" or "this isn't the time or place for that."

What's the big deal? Biden made an inappropriate joke behind closed doors and his boss asked him to chill. Who cares and why is it freaking you out so badly?

And what about these paragraphs defies your opinion that Richard Wolffe is "on the up and up."

He's a reporter. He's writing a book on the President. Someone told him this on background and he added it to his tome, probably to elucidate the point that "Obama is in charge," or something.

I just don't get what is causing you so MUCH concern??

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. A drowning man will clutch at a straw

So will a drowning political party.

[ellenfl]

9. i'm confused. what means this . . .

"Biden tried to compliment Jarrett after one contribution."?

sounds like there might have been a sentence or two omitted.

ellen fl

[Orangepeel]

16. she said something smart at the meeting

and Biden said she made a good point (the compliment on her contribution to the discussion)

that's how I read it anyway

[Clio the Leo]

10. Barack Obama has known Joe Biden longer and better than any of us...

.... and longer and better than anyone at Newsweek and Fox.

He did not make his VP choice haphazardly.

What more explanation do you need? The article is BS.

[Jennicut]

11. I like Richard Wolffe but he also went to work for Dan Bartlett (a Bushie)

Sometimes journalists will do anything to sell a book.

[Doctor_J]

12. How many times per day do you read/watch fox news?

do you think you need intervention?

[Arkana]

13. "You should be in the Senate" is an insult now?

Christ, I don't know why they insist on turning Joe Biden into a gaffe machine and a clown.

Must be that durn LIBRUL MEDIA at work.

[gauguin57]

14. Not sure what those 'graphs mean. Puzzling. Here's a description of the Wolffe book.

He got lots of folks I respect to do blurbs for it. And I can't help it ... I have a little crush on Wolffe (I love seeing him on Keith's show).

There are always a couple of weird little stories that make the rounds from these political books.

http://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Making-President-Richard-Wolffe/dp/0307463125

Interesting factoid ... Wolffe co-wrote a book with Spanish celebrity chef Jose Andres ... about tapas!

Mmmmmm! TAPAS!

[Orangepeel]

15. I don't think the paragraphs are related.

Jarrett is a close friend of Obama's who withdrew from consideration for the Senate after the Blago thing blew up (like most people did)

Later, Jarrett and Biden were in a meeting with Obama about cabinet picks and Biden tried to tease her about the Senate and Obama got annoyed. Maybe she really did want the seat and it was a sore point that Blago screwed things up.

Still later, Obama named Jarrett (his close adviser) as a senior adviser. This doesn't seem to be related to the previous paragraphs, except for the fact that she wasn't in the Senate. I don't see how it had anything to do with Biden.

The next paragraph, by it's placement, seems to imply that Biden doesn't have Obama's email address, but I doubt that is true and if it is, doesn't have anything to do with a "quip" about Jarrett.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. thanks ! I'm glad I'm not crazy to think it didn't make sense.

[alsame]

18. I don't get what the insult is, unless there's more to the story. n/t

[Enrique]

20. it's B.S., per Valerie Jarrett

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0509/jarrett_pushes_back_2a7f6238-2af5-4f1f-a9b5-6e1e67e36c21.html

Valerie Jarrett is smacking down Richard Wolffe's report that Vice President Biden insulted her in the transition period ...

... by making a joke about her abortive bid for the Senate.

“Any suggestion that I was insulted by the vice president’s gracious comments regarding my potential for public service is ridiculous. I was very flattered by his kind words at the time and enjoy working closely with him in the White House,” Jarrett said in a statement to POLITICO.

PLUS: The White House is rejecting the notion that the Obama-Biden relationship is strained.

“The president’s own comments and the major tasks he’s put on the vice president’s plate speak volumes. A blind quote from a ‘senior aide’ should be given the proper weight: zero,” said Vice President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

21. thanks for the update ! good news!