Report: Obama increasingly “distracted” by Biden’s idiocy
posted at 11:32 am on May 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
He could have had Hillary, instead he did the egotistical thing and picked a dullard who’d make him look that much better by comparison. As Tom Maguire once said, they told me if I voted for McCain we’d have a moron as VP — and they were right! Enjoy the next three years, Barry.
President Obama is so “distracted by his vice president’s indiscipline” that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Joe Biden, according to a new book by Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe, who interviewed Obama a dozen times…
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.”
As goofy as he is, has Biden said anything that’s really hurt Obama — yet? There were campaign gaffes aplenty, most memorably his prediction about how The One’s inexperience would invite a challenge from some enemy state early on, but the only major stinkbomb I can think of since the inauguration was his panic attack about swine flu on the subways. He’s eased comfortably into the Quayle role: Doing no real harm, sporadically providing material for late-night comics, and by his mere existence encouraging people to pray fervently for the continued good health of the president. Exit question: Dump him for Hillary in 2012? Naaah.
Update: Someone in the comments suggests Claire McCaskill for VP in 2012. You know, that’s a heck of an idea.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »
Nobody messes with Joe!
chunderroad on May 21, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I stopped watching the late night talk shows. Are they enjoying the fruits of Biden?
shick on May 21, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Oh, I thought that was Biden’s job, to distract us all while 0bama does his stuff.
4shoes on May 21, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Read Cheney’s speech. It is really good…
RedSoxNation on May 21, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Joe, is that the engine of a Greyhound you hear approaching?
CDeb on May 21, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Prediction: Uncle Joe won’t last the full term. VP Granholm, or VP McCaskill?
portlandon on May 21, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Dump him for Mark Warner in 2012 and lock down Virginia for a second consecutive Presidential Election? Yeahhh….
Robert_Paulson on May 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM
I *heart* Joe Biden. He’s building a superb collection of material for 2012. Not that Barack isn’t doing a stellar job of it too….
ElectricPhase on May 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Something tells me that no matter who he would have chosen, Obama would have become annoyed with them. Keep it up, Joe. It makes for entertaining posts.
scalleywag on May 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Joe…God love ‘em! I hope he gets more exposure and he remains on the ticket in 2012. He’s the perfect poster boy for this presidency…blinding, tone-deaf incompetence combined with a complete lack of substance and a ‘damn the torpedoes’ tenacity to forge ahead.
AUINSC on May 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Barry quoted Sen. Grahamnesty is his seepech. Maybe he’ll be the next VP. God help us.
kingsjester on May 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Obambi isn’t stupid enough to dump Plugs for Hillary in 2012 but he will dump him for someone. My money would be on Evan Bayh.
Percy_Peabody on May 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
It is not that Biden has said anything to really hurt the administration it’s just that the pitiful imbecile routine takes some tarnish off of the cool, hip, smart power narrative.
myrenovations on May 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Remember this one from Iowahawk?
Biden: Obama Ready for Armageddon Showdown He Will Provoke
SEATTLE — Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden promised a group of supporters Sunday that running mate Barack Obama “will absolutely 100% trigger a nuclear Armageddon kinda thing” within the first 20 minutes of his presidency, but added that “Barack Obama is looking forward to this apocalyptic opportunity to test his mettle, because he totally aced his LSATs.”
“Mark my words,” Biden promised at the Seattle fundraiser Sunday. “There will be an international crisis. The world will be looking. They’ll say, hey, here is this handsome, clean, ar-ti-cu-late young president, not unlike a very, very tanned John Fitzgerald Kennedy, dancing at his inaugural ball with his beautiful wife who is not unlike a very very very extremely tanned Jackie. And our enemies will think, ‘ba ha ha, look at how thees seely new Amerikanski preseedent dances so! Such skeels can only be from many years in zee dancing school, where theys do not teaching the toughness! Launch zee meesiles!’ But these enemies are in for a big surprise. America’s foes must never confuse Barack Obama’s terrific dance floor moves with weakness — because as an Afro-American African, Barack is a natural dancer.”
“Listen, I can sit here all day and give you at least sixty or seventy scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said. “Iran, Russia, definitely France. India is a possibility because they have sleeper cells in all the 7-11s, and the Koreans with all their toxic dry cleaning chemicals. I wouldn’t be surprised if Spain or Portugal started thinking, hey, ese, let’s do a driveby and recolonize the New World.”
chunderroad on May 21, 2009 at 11:40 AM
seepech = speech
Trying to watch Cheney. Oops.
kingsjester on May 21, 2009 at 11:40 AM
If nothing else, Biden’s gaffes destroy the image of perfection the Obamas have come to enjoy. Their egos won’t allow for this to happen much longer. I bet Michelle/Yoko is plotting methods to break up this duo.
sherry on May 21, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Can’t be Granholm.
myrenovations on May 21, 2009 at 11:40 AM
C’mon, AP! Quayle misspelled potato. Biden tops that every week!
jgapinoy on May 21, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Granholm is ineligible for VP because she’s only a naturalized citizen.
McCaskill would be interesting for two reasons, first being that she’s as much of an idiot as Biden and second being that it would open up a vulnerable seat for a possible GOP takeover.
teke184 on May 21, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Biden is Spiro Agnew Redeux. Not only is he dumb as a post and gaffe prone he’s dirty as hell. The guy has been living above his income for years, how? His efforts to hold his Senate seat for his kid? There has got to be some very shady backroom deals there. Nevermind the credit card companies.
He will not finish this term. It’s a huge knock on Obama that he ever even chose him to begin with. He did nothing for the ticket.
Rocks on May 21, 2009 at 11:42 AM
He needs Biden because he wants ALL the power to himself
youngO on May 21, 2009 at 11:42 AM
McCaskill, please. She seems more likely to put her foot up someone else’s backside than in her own mouth.
DrSteve on May 21, 2009 at 11:43 AM
McCaskill is an even bigger moron than Biden (if that can be possible). Read some of her moronic twitter postings. (My fav is her discussion of her adventures on the Senate Tram).
Illinidiva on May 21, 2009 at 11:44 AM
For those of you who can’t watch, Dick Cheney is slamming Obama. Finally someone in the Bush Administration is calling Obama on the carpet. Awesome!
milwife88 on May 21, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Everything “funny” around Obama is off limits…
right2bright on May 21, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Biden really does help Obama appear more statesmanlike. So he serves a purpose that almost no other personality could serve.
Biden was an oddly productive choice for VP. Obama must either really be great at strategy or the luckiest man ever. I don’t see him dumping him.
petunia on May 21, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Obama picked him; he’s stuck with him.
I’m listening to it. It really is good.
BuckeyeSam on May 21, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Obama felt threatened by Hillary so he selected Biden . . . congratulations Barry now you’ve got that idiot to deal with.
rplat on May 21, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Biden is the smartest, savviest VP in US history…just ask him.
cyclown on May 21, 2009 at 11:48 AM
I was with my very liberal step-mom when the one announced Biden as his running mate. My step-mother was a bit shocked and not happy about the choice at all.
4shoes on May 21, 2009 at 11:49 AM
This country is going to be so deep in the crapper by 2012 that it won’t matter if Obama chooses Jesus Christ Himself as his running mate.
AZCoyote on May 21, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Dennis Miller had a funny little anecdote on BOR the other night about why d-Oh-bama chose Joe the VP…
(paraphrasing from memory…)
He said he had a short comic friend who told him its all about scale. When he would go to a nightclub, and he wanted to appear taller, he would hire 3 or 4 even more height-challenged little people, so chicks would look at his group and say “Hmmm, I kinda like the tall one…”
I saw an SNL clip the other day that made the same way, but of course using Wil Ferrell & Darryl (?) as Bush and Cheney. The gis was that Bush was saying to Cheney “Why could you have been more like Joe, just go around and say stupid things to make me look better”
Perception is reality…
ornery_independent on May 21, 2009 at 11:49 AM
It’s not too late to get help, Joe.
VibrioCocci on May 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Point by point. He ain’t missing anything.
BuckeyeSam on May 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM
He will step down in one year.
If I’m right
Ap will give me a top spot in the greenroom to blog about women
blatantblue on May 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Biden is only there to distract from Obama’s idiocy.
-Dave
Dave R. on May 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Obama to Biden: You should be in the Senate.
Steve Z on May 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM
A Newsweak reporter knows how to write a book? Someone has written a book on 100 days of “work”? Are we going to get a new book every couple of months? Richard Wolffe had no reason to stay on the good side of the administration during the time period he was getting access to the Whitehouse. None at all.
cobrakai99 on May 21, 2009 at 11:52 AM
The beautiful thing about all this is there isn’t a thing that Barack Obama can do about it. The VP does not serve at the discretion of the President. The VP cannot be fired. About the only thing that the President can hold over the head of the VP is the threat to leave him with nothing to do in the Administration. The VP would then be left with just the Constitutionally mandated job of President of the Senate — one of the most boring, unchallenging jobs imaginable.
So Biden can continue to spout off his inanities, and there is literally nothing Obama can do about it.
It’s kinda fun to watch. :-)
Marking Time on May 21, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Indiscipline? Is that a new word, like “misunderestimate”? But, of course, President Obama is so well-spoken that he never makes a verbal faux. ;)
March Hare on May 21, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Biden’s wife, an English teacher at a community college (and the CEO of a consulting company that has no clients), sits on the boards of several large corporations. Any guesses as to why she’d be picked for these lucrative and privileged positions?
AZCoyote on May 21, 2009 at 11:55 AM
One idiot calling another idiot an idiot.
The Obama administration in a nutshell.
Rebar on May 21, 2009 at 11:55 AM
.
I thought Instapundit originated that phrase?
martywd on May 21, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Completely agree, she is a moron in a pink pants suite. She gives Barry a woman on the ticket, from a southern state, who can stay on topic and sound intelligent. She also is not a threat to upstaging Barry or undermine him as Hillary would.
Also, having a woman on the ticket in ’12 will be a pre-emptive strike against a Palin run. (it would fail as Palin would destroy him anyway).
portlandon on May 21, 2009 at 11:57 AM
People do that? Really?? Because, as unbelievably stupid as he is, I can’t see Biden having done anything nearly as harmful as the stuff Obama pulls on an almost daily basis.
califcon on May 21, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Hey, David Broder thinks that choosing Biden as veep is evidence that Barack has bucked the liberal Democrats, and is a good Commander in Chief.
Buy Danish on May 21, 2009 at 11:58 AM
A question on succession please….if Joe has an “unfortunate accident”, like maybe getting shot down over Bosnia…does San Fran Nan become the acting VP?
ornery_independent on May 21, 2009 at 12:01 PM
No, the position remains vacant until it’s filled by appointment.
However, if Barry were to die or become incapacitated with the VP spot unfilled, Pelosi would become President.
teke184 on May 21, 2009 at 12:03 PM
But the House gets advise and consent on the appointment, so Pelosi can determine the outcome if she so desires.
myrenovations on May 21, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Wish I could see it. If the darn coworkers would go home I could watch it online! :)
Obama needs to seriously get rid of Pelosi before he does anything about Biden. She makes a far bigger fool of his administration than he does.
scalleywag on May 21, 2009 at 12:07 PM
“by his mere existence encouraging people to pray fervently for the continued good health of the president”
I pray fervently for the opposite.
Biden is a doofas, but he doesn’t hate his country.
And he isn’t trying to destroy it either.
notagool on May 21, 2009 at 12:09 PM
take mark warner please! then get beat! virginia can elect a republican senator if we pull ourselves together. please take that chuckie-schumer-hugging mark warner.
kelley in virginia on May 21, 2009 at 12:10 PM
There’s a book out about Obama already!? And he had time for a dozen interviews? Now we know why nothing else is getting done. He’s using his first 100 days for legacy building.
PattyJ on May 21, 2009 at 12:10 PM
My hero.
Akzed on May 21, 2009 at 12:12 PM
scalleywag on May 21, 2009 at 12:07 PM
It should be on youtube this evening. It really was good. I hope you get a chance to see it in total not clipped and cut for the news.
milwife88 on May 21, 2009 at 12:17 PM
scalleywag on May 21, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Michelle has the text of the speech on her web site.
milwife88 on May 21, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Thanks teke184 & myrenovations
ornery_independent on May 21, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Community Organizing 101:
Blame the nearest old white guy.
29Victor on May 21, 2009 at 12:27 PM
So Joe Biden is trying to drive Barack Obama crazy? That’s one way move into the Presidency, I suppose? Who thinks this isn’t intentional? The man was in the Senate for years. From time to time, he would say something but he has turned into a gaffe machine, now the question is “is it on purpose” as a media distraction or deflection? There isn’t much in the way of results if it is a media tactic?
Of course if he is ever questioned about anything in the future, say under oath, about things he might have been privy to… he has built himself a ?mental capacity defense? in the media perception is everything, and politicians love to manipulate perception. Or like Freud said, sometimes a banana is just a banana.
Dr Evil on May 21, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Under Bush, Cheney publicly played the role of a “heat sink,” drawing negative attention away from Bush and providing a locus for liberal anger other than Bush. Biden doesn’t provide a locus for anyone’s anger, but he is effective at saying goofy things to take the media’s attention off more serious matters that might make Obama look bad.
Outlander on May 21, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Hey! My name is Joe
I work ina Button Factory
I have a wife a dog and a Family
One day my boss came up to me and said…
EricPWJohnson on May 21, 2009 at 12:31 PM
The guy on SNL does the best Biden! WSJ recently did a good article on what happens to ex-VPs…..I am sure Biden will end up a very minor historical footnote as well.
arizonateacher on May 21, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Actually picking Biden is a brilliant move on Obama’s part. What better way to stave off any crazy racist terrorist then by picking somebody so dumb and so wreckless that even the worst skinhead Nazi would prefer a black president.
Kudos Mr. President.
oddjob1138 on May 21, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I think that Slow Joe will step-down next year due to some health issue, and Hillary will be appointed.
It was part of the deal… “Prove your loyalty to me as SoS, and I will position you to be my successor.”
Droopy on May 21, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Ummm…yeah, but…
whitetop on May 21, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Wasn’t Joe the VP candidate who had all that “education and gravitas” that Palin lacked?
katiejane on May 21, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Wouldn’t he have to know Jesus first?
dominigan on May 21, 2009 at 12:54 PM
I really really think Biden won’t be the VP candidate next time. As for who will replace him, I’d think Hillary is most likely but there’s certainly no guarantee of that.
OneGyT on May 21, 2009 at 12:55 PM
I think the fact that Obama is upset by Joe being Joe is even funnier than Joe being Joe. The only person in the 57 states who didn’t know he was an idiot…
MamaAJ on May 21, 2009 at 1:06 PM
It’s not fair to compare Biden to Quayle. Quayle wasn’t an idiot; he was just a conservative and thus got the typical raw deal from the media. They mocked him for pointing out his similarities with JFK, but if he’d been a Democrat, the slobbering fools in the MSM would have recognized it first, adoringly.
Biden is truly and imbecile; the Left just insists that Quayle was, even though he obviously wasn’t.
Hell, even Candace Bergen eventually acknowledged that Quayle’s criticism of Murphy Brown’s promotion of single-motherhood was valid.
Kensington on May 21, 2009 at 1:07 PM
I really really think Biden won’t be the VP candidate next time. As for who will replace him, I’d think Hillary is most likely but there’s certainly no guarantee of that.
OneGyT on May 21, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Maybe they’ll announce it with a big, misspelled “RESEHT” button, or something.
Kensington on May 21, 2009 at 1:08 PM
It’s like a Martin, and Lewis comedy…only Obama probably can’t croon!
capejasmine on May 21, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Get Claire McCaskill out of Missouri so I can feel safe to move back to my home state!
eforhan on May 21, 2009 at 1:10 PM
C’mon. Joe didn’t say all these crazy things. I’m sure it was really Neil Kinnock.
hawksruleva on May 21, 2009 at 1:12 PM
You blog about women here, why do you need to get into the greenroom?
ladyingray on May 21, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Biden is Obama’s get out of jail free card. Everything and anything will be blamed on him.
Caper29 on May 21, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Aside from the debateable spelling “controversy”, could you elaborate on your insinuated numerous Dan Quayle gaffes? Please list them chronologically and feel free to use more than one post if they are as numerous as you and other leftist media say they are.
peacenprosperity on May 21, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Unfortunately, Jesus is not a native-born US Citizen, so He isn’t eligible to be VPOTUS.
This just in, Obama/Jesus ’12 website has up a copy of Jesus’ birth announcement in the Bethlehem (PA) Daily Star so I guess that settles that.
But why would He accept the demotion from King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
The Monster on May 21, 2009 at 1:45 PM
I’m just excited for Wolffe! Spreading his wings beyond just fawning for Obama on TV & in the Newsweak, to fawning over Obama in book form!!
Plus of course the soon to be announced Muslim Summit referenced in the article, it will be nice to see the freshman American President more comfy in a more friendly, relaxed and familiar element.. The challenge will clearly be finding a Muslim, somewhere, somehow out there, that the President has not apologized to yet! So the logistics for this event must be staggering. /s
saus on May 21, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Biden is making Sarah look better and better. *haha
All that nonsense, comparing her to Obama, is truly getting funny.
Anyone want Biden in charge?
AnninCA on May 21, 2009 at 2:18 PM
They have donuts & coffee.
portlandon on May 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Am I the only one here who finds this admittedly clumsy joke an unremarkable event?
What strikes me as more concerning (or would, if I were the POTUS) is the fact that someone on the WH staff thought it appropriate to tell this story, right on down to the ensuring rebuke, to a reporter.
Chuckles3 on May 21, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Typo: ensuing, not ensuring.
Chuckles3 on May 21, 2009 at 3:12 PM
With Obama in the top spot, of course. LOL
ddrintn on May 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Biden is a liberal ex-lawyer who never did a day of work in his life, so he satisfies all the nutroots qualifications.
Speedwagon82 on May 21, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Claire McCaskill is a flaming idiot too.
While she was running, she claimed that the US oil companies controlled the world price of oil.
I haven’t listened to anything she’s said since.
misterpeasea on May 21, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Biden is a perfect caricature of what democrats stand for., He makes Cheney look like the smartest/best VP evah.
seven on May 21, 2009 at 4:10 PM
When Palin was picked, they scrambled to compare her to Eagleton and get her thrown off the ticket. Whereas we looked at the Biden pick and said, “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Jim Treacher on May 21, 2009 at 4:25 PM
During the Democrat primaries, Obama bragged that he possessed “superior judgement”, yet somehow he wasn’t able to see what an amiable buffoon Joe Biden is and how detrimental it would be for America if Joe Biden should ever become President.
OxyCon on May 21, 2009 at 4:27 PM
“Indiscipline” is probably the prime characteristic in evidence in both legislative bodies in DC–do not know why Obama is surprised. Those folks on the hill in DC think that ordinary rules don’t apply to them. But it’s our, the voters ,fault because we keep overlooking the fact that they just might be dumbkoffs and keep sending them back.
jeanie on May 21, 2009 at 5:06 PM
This is what you get when you elect people who have no real-world experience.
Neither Biden nor Obama have never held a job in the private sector doing sales, marketing, or any kind of customer interface. They have never been responsible for “follow-up” so they routinely make promises that they know they never have any intention of keeping.
These are career politicians whose only interest is winning the next election. They are used to saying one thing to your face but something completely different when they are behind closed doors with their “strategists.” Once in a while, they slip up and let their true feelings be known (think back the the Joe the Plumber / Obama episode). Career politicians have nothing but contempt for the voters. They see us as ants who exist for the sole purpose of paying taxes and keeping them in power.
Unfortunately too many people willingly go along with the scheme.
UltimateBob on May 21, 2009 at 5:41 PM
You know we need to start a pool about how long Crazy Joe Biden lasts as VP before Obama gets sick of him and asks Biden to find a convenient excuse to resign.
My bet is that Biden will say something really dumb in the leed up to the midterm elections that really ticks off Obama once and for all. This will result in Biden resigning because of some sort of convenient medical problem and either one of Obama’s political stooges will appointed VP or Hillary Clinton will take the opportunity to get herself in a better position for a future Presidential run.
Dreadnought223 on May 21, 2009 at 6:19 PM
“Stand up Chuck”… Kills me every time I hear it, I love this guy. Watch “The Wizard Of Oz” again, he’s the Cowardly Lion, look at the two, it’s amazing, “Put up your dukes”…
I hope the “Wizard” keeps him around, call it a gift that will keep giving.
M-14 2go on May 21, 2009 at 8:32 PM
Have you noticed the vast majority of bumper-stickers just say Obama? Not Obama – Biden? I can’t ever recall seeing that before. Joe must lack divinity.
Buck Turgidson on May 21, 2009 at 9:34 PM
C’mon Joe! We’re counting on you. You are the only one that can save us! Gaffe harder, man! Gaffe! Gaffe!
bitsy on May 21, 2009 at 10:10 PM
He couldn’t stand the thought of Hillary at that point. Biden was an obvious mistake. He makes Palin look pretty darn good.
AnninCA on May 22, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »