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Joe Biden avoids stepping in it
By: Julie Mason
Examiner White House Correspondent
10/23/09 5:26 PM EDT
A gesture -- no longer the jester? (ap)
Vice President Joe Biden is traveling around Central Europe this week, reassuring allies that President Obama's decision to scrap a missile defense system is in no way a capitulation to Moscow. How is he doing? So far, so good, apparently.
Ah, Joe Biden. Remember when his foreign policy background and long experience in the Senate was widely judged an asset to Obama, who lacked both? Newsweek recently explored the cosmic gyrations of Biden's role in the administration -- from high-value elder statesman, to your crazy uncle who "jokes" with the waitress at Red Lobster and makes family holidays unpredictable, back to statesman and "truth-teller."
In the early days of the administration, Biden was a bit of a joke in some quarters of the White House. He was never the buffoonish character portrayed by late-night comics, but his off-message blurts were the source of eye-rolling and some irritation among the president's men and women. None of the gaffes was particularly damaging, but aides who'd been with Obama through the campaign knew that the president valued very tight control. Biden himself seemed wounded by the sniggering. Asked about his gaffes by a NEWSWEEK reporter last spring, he responded a little defensively, "A gaffe in Washington is someone telling the truth, and telling the truth has never hurt me."
Sometimes when the two are in public together, Obama seems uncomfortable and a little impatient with Biden. Still, he gave his former rival a robust portfolio: Iraq, saving the middle class, overseeing the stimulus spending and now, speaking in soothing tones to Central Europe. Biden also gets to travel a lot, which he seems to like. Air Force Two!
Biden sat down earlier today for an interview with reporters making the trip with him, at the American ambassador's residence in Prague. As recounted in a pool report filed by Matthew Mosk of the Washington Times:
Asked about Cheney's recent suggestion that the prior administration had already left behind its own thorough assessment of the Afghanistan war, he at first looked piqued. "Well, look, I don’t..." He paused. "Who cares what..." he began again, sounding annoyed. He paused again, looking as though he wanted to stuff the words back in his mouth.
"Well, let me put it maybe," and he paused a third time, glancing at communications director Jay Carney with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I can see the headline now," VPOTUS said, shaking his head. "I’m getting better, guys. I’m getting a little bit better, you know what I mean?"
Biden in Prague: What was that dance move, again? (ap)
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