Joe Biden is laying plans to significantly shrink the role of the vice presidency in Barack Obama’s White House, according to an official familiar with his thinking.
It’s not just that Biden won’t sit in on Senate Democrats’ weekly caucus meetings – a privilege Republicans afforded outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney. He won’t have an office outside the House floor, as House Speaker Dennis Hastert gave Cheney early on.
Biden will not begin every day with his own intelligence briefing before sitting in on the president’s. He will not always be the last person Obama speaks to before making a decision.
He also will not, as a transition official calls it, operate a “shadow government” within an Obama administration.
One of the few ways he will resemble Cheney is in making clear his future ambitions, or lack thereof: Biden doesn’t expect to run for president after leaving the vice-presidency, according to a transition source who was not authorized to speak on the record.
“What he has said previously is that Vice President Cheney had an overly expansive view of the vice president, almost created like a shadow government inside the White House," said the transition official familiar with Biden's role. "Vice President-elect Biden has a very strong view that the vice president’s role is to be an advisor to the president and to be a member of the president’s team, and that’s how he’s going to be in the job.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16558.htmlI think Joe will make the vice presidency what it used to be under Al Gore, an adviser to the president. Cheney was so power hungry he made it a co-presidency. Note the idiotic responses on Politico, the right wingers really hang out there. They don't get the damage Cheney did by creating a shadow government. Doesn't matter, Cheney's approval ratings are so low they are invisible and most Americans approve of Joe as VP.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
