Is Joe Biden happy?

[CTyankee]

We certainly haven't been seeing that much of him lately, except for the 60 minutes interview. I know as VP he cannot and would not want to try to overshadow the President. But I wonder if the job of Vice President is what he thought it would be. And that poll, silly as it was, showing he is less popular than Cheney was at the same stage in the presidency, couldn't have helped. It made me feel kind of bad for him.

I know he's gaffe prone, but he is also used to being admired and sought after as a foreign policy expert in the Senate. Now that his job description has him doing other things, such as the middle class study, is he contented with the way things have played out?

Please understand, I'm not "concerned." Just wondering cause I like the guy a lot and think he's got a lot to offer...

[bdamomma]

1. After seeing his interview on 60 Minutes, I think he is doing well

in his position, it's a transition but he is handling it well.

[elleng]

2. You be the judge:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=404

[LynneSin]

3. I wouldn't feed much into the poll that 'Cheney was more popular'

That was a poll done before 9/11 when the country had no idea what kind of sick fuck Dick Cheney really was. Well we here at DU knew he was but the rest of the world had no clue.

I'm just a bit worried about Biden's old senate seat. If Mike Castle opts to run for US Senate we might see that seat go to the republicans. Castle is moderate enough and is the only republican with any appeal in the First State. He's won every statewide election he's ever been in (twice for governor and 9 times for Congress, which is statewide here in Delaware). Although I'm not keen on polls done 18 months before an election - they have shown that Castle would easily defeat Joe's son Beau.

[TuxedoKat]

4. I thought it was unfair

and typical of the stupid MSM to compare Joe Biden's popularity in early April with Cheney's in July. Also, it didn't seem to me that their numbers were that far off either, but I can't remember the exact percentages.

[Jennicut]

5. Another recent poll from Washington Post/ABC News has his favorbility rating higher, at 57%

which was about where Cheney was at this time. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2009/04/biden_100-day_report_card.html

Joe seems happy. Remember, he is one of the few people in Washington who has actually had to limit their job. Cheney had way to much power. Obama says he turns to him for advice and sometimes for a contrarian view. That is all Joe really wanted from being VP. Some people crave power (Cheney), some people just want to do good things for the county (Biden).

[Mass]

6. I wished we as Democrats stop perpetuating the meme from the media and the RW.

Biden is no more gaffe-prone than anybody else. He has been around for more than 30 years now and has less gaffes to his credit than many much more recent politicians. I really wished we would stop this one.

Biden had said that he wanted to be a trusted adviser, not a media star and not dealing only with foreign policy. Do you have any sign that he does not do what he had planned to do?

And forget this poll. The Cheney one was take in 2001, at a stage where people had no clear idea Cheney was the guy piloting the boat. On the contrary, he seems the steady and experienced hand that would prevent Bush from doing stupid things. We all know how it went.

[PatSeg]

18. Exactly

"Biden is no more gaffe-prone than anybody else." This is a tag that the media put on him and kept reinforcing over time, instead of focusing on his many accomplishments.

[jillan]

36. Thank you Mass for a great post!

:hug:

[CTyankee]

40. Well, he himself admitted to the gaffes but I honestly don't think they're as bad as some may think.

Slips of the tongue, perhaps. It was unfortunate that he slipped when he called Obama "clean" but I guess that's just politics...

And yes, the poll WAS unfair. My point was that it wasn't particularly nice or helpful.

[nyc 4 Biden]

45. It is lazy journalism.

They don't have the investigative ability or guts to dig a little deeper and be original.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

7. He's not gaffe prone. That's what the media has done to paint him in a bad light.

They're acting as if Biden should be more hated than Cheney. Don't believe that hype. Biden is a great man and is doing a brilliant job. I can't understand why people continue to malign him. He is humble and smart. The media has always hated him because he speaks his mind and tells the truth.

[AspenRose]

8. Washington DC definition of a gaffe

Telling the truth

[PatSeg]

19. This is true

He crossed some in the media and this is the payback, a payback that never seems to end. They keep trying to knock him down, and he keeps bouncing back.

[CoffeeCat]

9. If his polls are down..

...it's because he hasn't been as visible.

The right wing hacks may hate Biden. They'd hate Jebus if he was Obama's vp. But the
vast majority of rational Americans know that Joe Biden is a decent family man and a
consummate expert on foreign policy and international affairs.

The man is incredibly wise and he's a great American.

He needs to be more visible--and that will improve his poll numbers. He's just not on
radar screens right now...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. Because the M$M ignores him, the only point of reference Americans have is the constant

mumblings in the Corporate Media about how he is a 'gaffe machine.' I was happy about the 60 Minutes interview because Joe is hitting back. I never want him to change. Americans don't know his personal story and how humble he is; how he is the 'poorest' senator in the Senate; how he and his wife lead normal lives outside of Washington; how he refers to his sons as 'honey'; and how he loves Beau and worries about him being in Iraq. Americans need to see this Joe Biden, not the caricature that they make of him in Washington. I sometimes hate living in this town. Washington is so power-hungry and corporate that people forget to be human and treat each other with respect. That's the underlying problem. Obama and Joe are threats to the corporate structure. And Biden has made some mistakes, a la the Bankruptcy Bill that I will never forgive him for. But no one can say that somehow he is wealthy because of it. He still makes less money and is less visible than most senators and VPs, respectively.

[Jennicut]

16. His polls are not really down though. Two polls showed him recently with ratings where Cheney was.

Thing is Cheney left at 13%! LOL

I don't think he has to be more visible. Obama started as President without a lot of experience. If Joe was always looking over his shoulder, it would have under minded the Prez.

[Clio the Leo]

10. You answered your own question.......

"I know as VP he cannot and would not want to try to overshadow the President."

You may be comparing the campaign trail where the VP is out there more. But if you look at his and the President's daily schedule (which is listed every day here: http://www.politico.com/politico44/ ) then it's abundantly clear how important he is to the day to day operation of this administration.

What you're NOT seeing is him making his primary office in the US Capitol. :)

[WI_DEM]

12. I'm sure he is fine. He wanted VP and he knows the role that a VP plays

[sledgehammer]

13. Biden's key area is Foreign Policy

And he's been overshadowed by Hillary, and even John Kerry.

What he needs to do is to take on a specific area and become its cheerleader. The last VP chose torture, but I think Biden can do a bit better! :)

Perhaps transportation? Maybe he should be the face of High Speed Rail. Or poverty eradication? Education?

He needs a defining area. He's not getting Foreign Policy, so he needs to look for others.

I love the guy - so genuine, and what an amazing life story. I'm so happy he's VP. A perfect complement to Obama, and probably the source of a lot of Obama's confidence.

[karynnj]

25. "even John Kerry" ???

Any coverage Kerry has received is because of the efforts he is making and his abilities. Any influence he has on Obama's decisions will be because of the quality of his opinions. The small amount of credit that he gets, he earned. Biden, not Kerry, has a role in the Obama on foreign policy. He is also there, as is Clinton, in cabinet meetings where Obama discusses foreign policy among other issues. Biden was the person who represented the US at the Brussles NATO meeting.

The fact is that while Hillary has gotten a lot of publicity as Secretary of State, it is not clear that she has had much to do with policy. Obama, himself, has the final responsibility on that and I assume that Biden has more input than HRC, at this point, because he has greater expertise.

Obama put Biden in charge of the task force for the Middle Class.

By the way, Senator Kerry wrote legislation that he circulated most of last year and introduced in November on high speed rail - it was a version of his legislation that became a provision of the stimulus bill. If anyone is not getting sufficient credit on that - it is not Biden - but Kerry, who was not mentioned when the President presented it.

[sledgehammer]

30. By "even"....

...I didn't want to imply a stretch of imagination. I probably should have used the words "as well as John Kerry." That's what I wanted to convey.

Very unfortunate about Kerry not being mentioned for high-speed rail by Obama. I don't think Biden has anything to do with the implementation of HSR, I'm just saying he needs to be given a defining area. And HSR/transport might be a good fit.

It's true that Biden went to NATO. But it's Kerry who's been in Pakistan, Sudan, etc. Yes he goes as a Senator rather than a representative of the President, but his travels get him more coverage than Biden's.

[karynnj]

47. explanation accepted

I think it also has to do with which politicians you prefer. Biden got very significant coverage for the NATO conference, especially as he was the first Obama administration person to publicly speak overseas of the vastly different policy that Obama has vs Bush. Kerry actually got relatively little coverage for Sudan considering that he was able, in support of Obama's envoy to get a commitment from them to let the international aid return to its prior level and commitments from both the government and the rebels to have triparty talks with Obama's envoy.

There was significant international coverage, but very little US coverage. (Even then NPR, in one of the two interviews he did, chose to frame it as, was the reason he was "chosen" to announce it, that it would be less embarrassing if it fell through." Now Kerry has credited Obama's envoy on these, but Kerry had a role in it too. Not to mention, working to get an agree that doesn't pan out is less embarrassing than not doing anything. Ask yourself, what the coverage would have been had Hillary Clinton gone there and gotten these results. How much would you have heard? By definition, the President, the VP, and the Secretary of State get far more coverage than Kerry. Every official action they take is and should be covered.

As you saw with HSR, a Senator can be a chief sponsor of a very significant piece of legislation and get almost no publicity of credit from it. Because the legislation was folded into the stimulus bill, anyone looking for Kerry legislation that passed will not find anything to do with rail. (Here's a link to a Daily Kos diary http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/25/95822/061 )

As I said, Obama has said Biden has the charter of looking out for the middle class. His appearance yesterday at an event where a closed factory reopened as a new company making green products with help from the stimulus package. This is a very broad area and I assume Biden has the luxury of defining it. It can be anything from mortgage problems to jobs to education. He actually has been an exceptionally prominent VP - as were his last 2 predecessors. (I think he is given far more than Gore was.)

[sledgehammer]

49. Great points

I think maybe we are so used to the veep running the show over the last 8 years, that we expect more visibility from Biden!

I like where he is. I just think he can contribute so much more by being given a defined area to own. Perhaps the middle class revival is it.

[CTyankee]

42. You and I think alike on this.

Biden's a good guy and a fabulous addition to the upper level of formulating foreign policy.

[Cha]

14. cheney is darth fucking vader so any

perceived "popularity" he had was bullshit.

VP Joe Biden is the real deal and everyone isn't built to be front and center all the time. I think of VP Biden as doing excellent work behind the scenes, too.

[denem]

15. Is Joe Happy - being part of the most powerhouse Foreign Policy team since WWII

Joe is passionate about Foreign Policy. In every interview I have seen with him on the subject since 2004, he has talked about the narrowing window to reestablish trust and leadership in the world. Rather than conduct autopsies in the Foreign Relations Committee, he it there in the flesh, able to call the hundreds of people he knows with more gravitas than ever. It's the chance he's grabbed with both hands.

[Thrill]

17. Why wouldn't he be happy? He's traveling all the time? Has several projects he is in charge of

Middle Class Task Force, Watching over the Stimulus package, He's been doing town halls, etc..

I think he's in Texas today. He wouldn't be doing this much as a Senator

[AspenRose]

33. And, as he said on 60 minutes, he gets to spend more time with Jill

They have dinner together more often now that he's VP

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. he is second in command to the worlds most powerful country

i think its fair to say, he is happy.

[Fleshdancer]

21. He's in Austin, TX today visiting a domestic violence hotline center

Biden visited this hot line center in February 2006, when he said, "Women now feel empowered to come forward, and the hot line makes them believe that they are not alone."

:loveya:

Tonight he's doing a few fundraisers. He's flying under the radar lately, but he's still doing great things. TX DUer Sonias met him today, I'll ask her to come here and post her thoughts on his mood.

[jillan]

23. oh - that is awesome! this is a huge issue for him.

[jillan]

22. I heard that he said he is having the time of his life.

And why wouldn't he?

He is working with Obama, and has a great working relationship with him.
He has alot of responsibility and is much appreciated in DC circles.

He is madly in love with his wife. He lives in a beautiful mansion, just blocks away from his grandchildren who adore him, and he has a new puppy from Jill

Vice President Joe Biden has stepped out as the administration's voice for the regular guy. So it shouldn't be surprising that his new pup, Champ, is following in his master's shoe steps. We hear the German shepherd is a hit with guests and the best friend of the veep's grandkids. What makes the fast-growing puppy happy? Besides the constant attention, Champ gets his share of doggie biscuits. And, says an aide, "he has found his way to a few shoes."

[Jennicut]

24. Cute story. He was following around Jill last night at a party for the National Teacher of the Year

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=404&topic_id=29770&mesg_id=29770

He is a cutie

[jillan]

26. What a cute story.

I love that Champ is treated as one of the family.

[sonias]

27. Vice President Biden is thrilled. I met him today

Vice President Biden is in Austin, TX today. A few people were invited to meet briefly with the Vice President today before a fundraiser he's doing in Austin. He was late to the meeting but when he came into the room he told us why - He had been on the phone with Senator Arlen Specter and he said he hoped he had a little to do with Senator Specter making the move to the Democratic party. Wild applause.

He's extremely cordial and honest. That's just the way he grew up. He's got a big heart and comes across very sincere. I think he loves his job. It is different for him, but I think he knows he can't be more in the thick of things than he's ever been.

The recovery is going to be hard, but he has every confidence in the world that they have the right team. He says he also knows that the American people want to move forward and they trust the President. He is very involved in decisions.

I was so honored to meet him.

:woohoo:

Sonia

[jillan]

28. Oh - Sonia - you met Biden???

That is such a great story.

I just love Biden, that is great you got to meet him.

[sonias]

29. Yep - it was great

They invited about 10 people to a very short meeting this morning in Austin before his fundraiser. I got a call last week and my name had to go through a security clearance. And this morning they had lots of security and a dog did a run through the room too.

He walked down the line greeting us and took pictures with each of us. And then gave us a 10 minute speech about the state of our union.

He was so relaxed and comfortable. He has a wonderful smile too.


:hi:


Sonia

[jillan]

31. I want pics!

[sonias]

34. I did get to take a couple

I'll have to put them up.

They also said that there would be some official ones put up and they would notify us about those too.


Sonia

[tabbycat31]

48. I met him in October

if you want pics of that let me know

[sonias]

50. Photos

Austin American Statesman photos of VP Biden's visit to the National Domestic Violence Hotline Headquarters in Austin

You have to sign up for a free account with the paper to view them online. Or use the BugMeNot.com logins.

There really are some nice photos from that shoot.

Sonia

[jillan]

52. Those were great - thanks for the link :)

[Jennicut]

32. That is great that you met him and love that he was on the phone with Specter.

[PatSeg]

37. Wow, you got to meet Joe?

What a great day you must be having!!!

[sonias]

41. Hell yes!

First sitting Vice President I have ever met. I met President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton on book tours but Bill was out of office then. And those were great too. We get lucky in Austin, like that.

Yea us!


Sonia

[PatSeg]

46. I love Austin

A Blue city in a Red state!

[LynneSin]

35. Joe Biden just delivered us an almost filibuster proof senate (will be when MN is done)

I think the guy is happy as hell!

[PatSeg]

38. Yep, he has so many opportunities

to really make a difference. He has so many skills that he brings to the office. AND this is only the first 100 days!!!

[sonias]

39. Joe Biden is still campaigning

He's still going to have to work on Specter too, but it is a huge win for us. You know the Rs are crying today. The party of "no" will not be able to be the obstructionists they want to be.

:rofl:


Sonia

[LynneSin]

43. Joe is going to be needed back home where his old seat will be highly contested

We have our own "Arlen Specter" in Delaware and that's our lone congressional rep Mike Castle. There isn't one republican that could make a play to takeover Joe's old seat except Mike Castle and there are hints that Castle might run for US Senate even if the opponent is Beau Biden (Joe's son). What's worse, former Lt. Gov Jim Carney announced he's running for Mike Castle's seat, which I'm not sure how I feel about that. This is the first time Castle has had a serious opponent against him in the 9 terms he's held that seat (DelDems never really actively pursed Castle's seat because of how popular Castle is). So Castle either needs to face a serious challenge for the first time in over 20 years, retire (he's talked about that too) or run for a US Senate that could be vulnerable.

Luckily the two places where Joe needs to campaign are a 20 minute Amtrak ride apart from each other.

[sonias]

44. You know he's going to be hands on for that one

Plus you're right this has now become a regional organization campaign. The DNC will put resources into these races. Both states have a friend in Vice President Joe Biden and that guy, well he's got the President ear, right?

:hi:

Sonia

[Clio the Leo]

51. So the final answer is.......

YES!!! Joe Biden is happy!!!! Arlen Specter is happy!!!! And so are the REST of us!!!!



"Harmony is the key my sisters and brothers
People can't wait cause another day might be too late
Come on get on the friendship train"










The GOP .... looking at their TEENY tent ....

... not so happy.

[jillan]

53. Ah - I love you found a pic of them on the train...

and now we know what they were talking about. ;)