Captain Gaffe-tastic to the rescue on health care
Brace yourselves, folks. The White House has decided that Joe Biden needs to help them lead the charge on the health care plan that is bleeding like a stuck pig, thanks to the outrage of the American populace at the town halls that the Democrats thought would help their case. It's not helping their case much because they're spinning lies on a bill -- HR3200 -- that people have read, are reading, and they're not pleased with what they've discovered. The LA Times has the skinny:
Reporting from Washington - The gaffes keep piling up: the untimely comments stoking fears of swine flu, dismissals of Russia that seem straight out of the Cold War.
But in defiance of the normal rules of American politics, Vice President Joe Biden appears to be solidifying his relationship with his boss and accumulating more assignments central to the administration's agenda.
Having lined up support in the Senate to assure passage of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan, Biden was recently tapped by President Obama to play a bigger role in the healthcare debate that is now dominating the congressional agenda. He is at the table on major foreign policy issues and has been asked to oversee the stimulus spending effort.
"For the president to give him the single largest initiative to date [the stimulus] with all the potential risks and pitfalls attached, speaks to a level of trust that's quite real," said Anita Dunn, White House communications director.
Steadily, Biden has tried to prove his value to the administration as a well-connected insider and a trusted advisor who won't reveal confidences.
When the White House was working to pass the stimulus bill, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel handed Biden a list of six Republican senators to call. Biden has sought to keep old Senate friendships intact, inviting members to his residence and hanging on to his locker at the Senate gym.
Biden met with the six and called them repeatedly. In the end, "we got three -- which wound up being the difference," said Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff.
Still, the transition to the No. 2 job has been rough for Biden. His habit in the Senate was to expend torrents of words in a bid to stand out. What's different now is that every word counts -- and foreign leaders are paying attention.
The exuberance and indiscipline at the root of Biden's well-publicized gaffes can have serious consequences. In April, amid fears of a swine flu pandemic, he told a TV audience that he had advised his own family not to travel in confined planes or trains.
The White House quickly issued an apology, and the travel industry put out a statement cautioning that politicians shouldn't pose as medical experts.
Puzzling over his comments on foreign policy, other countries are wondering if Biden speaks for the administration and if not, who does?
Biden stirred a tempest in the Kremlin last month when he told the Wall Street Journal that Russia would be forced to bow to U.S. wishes because of its "withering" economy, shrinking population and backward-looking leadership.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton felt obliged to correct the record the next day, saying that the administration viewed Russia as a "great power."
The Russian elite generally interpreted the comment as a sign that the administration's professed interest in a "reset" of relations with Moscow -- announced by Biden himself -- was insincere.
Andranik Migranyan, a former advisor to Boris Yeltsin, said that "the urgency of the correction by Clinton and the White House shows Russian leaders that Biden isn't taken seriously even by the Obama administration itself."
"I don't want to be rude, but if he continues these kinds of comments, he will be perceived as a clown, and no one will take him seriously," said Migranyan, who now heads the New York office of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, a think tank funded by the Russian government.
Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to Obama, said in an interview that Biden's verbal missteps are forgivable: "We all have to have our words clarified at times. That's part of what makes the vice president so endearing. Everyone says, 'Oh, my gosh. I could have said that.' And the press tends to overblow it. We wouldn't change him one bit."
Ms. Jarrett we wouldn't change him either. After Barry's tenure in office, we can look back and laugh at the asininity of Joe Biden as vice president. This guy was supposed to be sharp on foreign policy, and he makes mistake after mistake in that realm. He was supposed to shore up the Senate, and he can only peel away moderate RINOs to ump on board his boss's crazy ideas.
Usually when the patient is bleeding to death, a doctor works to stop the bleeding. Putting the scalpel in Captain Gaffe-tastic's is a lot like being on the Titanic before it hits the iceberg, running to the bridge to warn the captain, and you find out Daffy Duck is at the helm. This isn't a move that seems smart at all, and in the end if health care doesn't pass or can't get formulated, the blame will lie at the president's feet for trusting good ol' Joe.
Publius II
Reporting from Washington - The gaffes keep piling up: the untimely comments stoking fears of swine flu, dismissals of Russia that seem straight out of the Cold War.
But in defiance of the normal rules of American politics, Vice President Joe Biden appears to be solidifying his relationship with his boss and accumulating more assignments central to the administration's agenda.
Having lined up support in the Senate to assure passage of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan, Biden was recently tapped by President Obama to play a bigger role in the healthcare debate that is now dominating the congressional agenda. He is at the table on major foreign policy issues and has been asked to oversee the stimulus spending effort.
"For the president to give him the single largest initiative to date [the stimulus] with all the potential risks and pitfalls attached, speaks to a level of trust that's quite real," said Anita Dunn, White House communications director.
Steadily, Biden has tried to prove his value to the administration as a well-connected insider and a trusted advisor who won't reveal confidences.
When the White House was working to pass the stimulus bill, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel handed Biden a list of six Republican senators to call. Biden has sought to keep old Senate friendships intact, inviting members to his residence and hanging on to his locker at the Senate gym.
Biden met with the six and called them repeatedly. In the end, "we got three -- which wound up being the difference," said Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff.
Still, the transition to the No. 2 job has been rough for Biden. His habit in the Senate was to expend torrents of words in a bid to stand out. What's different now is that every word counts -- and foreign leaders are paying attention.
The exuberance and indiscipline at the root of Biden's well-publicized gaffes can have serious consequences. In April, amid fears of a swine flu pandemic, he told a TV audience that he had advised his own family not to travel in confined planes or trains.
The White House quickly issued an apology, and the travel industry put out a statement cautioning that politicians shouldn't pose as medical experts.
Puzzling over his comments on foreign policy, other countries are wondering if Biden speaks for the administration and if not, who does?
Biden stirred a tempest in the Kremlin last month when he told the Wall Street Journal that Russia would be forced to bow to U.S. wishes because of its "withering" economy, shrinking population and backward-looking leadership.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton felt obliged to correct the record the next day, saying that the administration viewed Russia as a "great power."
The Russian elite generally interpreted the comment as a sign that the administration's professed interest in a "reset" of relations with Moscow -- announced by Biden himself -- was insincere.
Andranik Migranyan, a former advisor to Boris Yeltsin, said that "the urgency of the correction by Clinton and the White House shows Russian leaders that Biden isn't taken seriously even by the Obama administration itself."
"I don't want to be rude, but if he continues these kinds of comments, he will be perceived as a clown, and no one will take him seriously," said Migranyan, who now heads the New York office of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, a think tank funded by the Russian government.
Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to Obama, said in an interview that Biden's verbal missteps are forgivable: "We all have to have our words clarified at times. That's part of what makes the vice president so endearing. Everyone says, 'Oh, my gosh. I could have said that.' And the press tends to overblow it. We wouldn't change him one bit."
Ms. Jarrett we wouldn't change him either. After Barry's tenure in office, we can look back and laugh at the asininity of Joe Biden as vice president. This guy was supposed to be sharp on foreign policy, and he makes mistake after mistake in that realm. He was supposed to shore up the Senate, and he can only peel away moderate RINOs to ump on board his boss's crazy ideas.
Usually when the patient is bleeding to death, a doctor works to stop the bleeding. Putting the scalpel in Captain Gaffe-tastic's is a lot like being on the Titanic before it hits the iceberg, running to the bridge to warn the captain, and you find out Daffy Duck is at the helm. This isn't a move that seems smart at all, and in the end if health care doesn't pass or can't get formulated, the blame will lie at the president's feet for trusting good ol' Joe.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 9:26 AM
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