For a brief moment Thursday, it appeared that Biden had adopted the old -- and successful -- practice of Bill Clinton's called "triangulation." He would bypass the fringes of both parties in order to reach an agreement with the middle on a type of spending that is generally popular with many Americans. But it soon became clear that it was just a ruse for Biden to lay claim to bipartisanship while keeping the progressive wing of his party happy. In his first press conference Thursday, Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate, stressed the importance of honesty in negotiations. "You know, a lot of us go back a long way, where we're used to doing one thing: Give each other our word and that's the end," Biden said. "Nobody questions it. They have my word, I'll stick with what they proposed, and they've given me their word as well. So, where I come from, that's good enough for me." On the infrastructure deal, Biden's word lasted about two hours.