And the two men, buffeted by problems, have grown closer after a rough start when Obama was dismissive or eye-rolling to his vice president often enough for it to merit a satirical takeoff on “Saturday Night Live.”

As Mark Halperin and John Heilemann write in “Double Down,” Biden worried that he would be cast as the buffoon, calling it the “Uncle Joe Syndrome,” and he confronted the president about it at a weekly lunch.

It’s fair to say that Joe Biden has not been given the respect he deserves in the White House. It’s the story of the ultimate team player who has not been treated that way himself.

The West Wing young bucks never fully appreciated the fact that if you have a president who turns up his nose at working with Congress, it’s nice to have a vice president who enjoys being a pol, who can pick up the phone and persuade Arlen Specter, at the cost of his political career, to help pass Obama’s stimulus.