Vice President Joe Biden, speaking on the campaign trail in Charlotte, N.C. today, offered an unvarnished assessment of the Obama economy:

First, he repeats the myth that Mitt Romney will “raise taxes” on the middle class— “raising their taxes with this tax cut,” as Joe so Bidenly puts it. Second, he says Romney can’t possibly justify that mythical tax hike because the Obama presidency has been so hard on the middle class.

The Romney campaign agrees and Jim Pethokoukis has the charts to prove it.

It’s not the first time Biden has eloquently described the toll the Obama economy has taken on working families:

“You know, I talk about ‘the longest walk.’ You have heard me say that,” said Biden. “The longest walk a parent can make is up a short flight of stairs, to their child’s bedroom, to say, ‘Honey, I am sorry you cannot go back to sing in the choir next year. You cannot play on that Little League team. Daddy, Mommy, we lost our jobs. The bank says we cannot live here any more.’ You know, you know people who have made that walk.”

Biden’s strength on the trail is supposed to be his ability to connect with the middle class in a way President Obama and Mitt Romney don’t. It is certainly a strength to feel the pain of those who are suffering, but he’s perhaps a tad too good at expressing that pain while also forgetting to pretend it’s still 2008, as the rest of the campaign does. Which is weird because he’s the administration’s most likely candidate to have misplaced the last four years of his life.

Maybe he has trouble on the trail because he’s too busy being so damn sexy. That’s what Jonathan Allen of Politico posits in this article, which is seemingly about a creepy, old sexist uncle who makes you dread bringing friends to family gatherings.

He’s kissed women on the lips – and the cheek. He pulled a biker chick so close to him at one pit stop that she appeared to be sitting in his lap in photos. And he’s talked about the acrobatic acts of cheerleaders in terms that would draw at least a PG-13 rating in Hollywood…

It’s undeniable that he’s a little different than the other candidates on the presidential ticket — the vice president is a big flirt.

This is what he said to the college cheerleaders in question, per a September pool report:

“Guess what, the cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college,’’ VPOTUS told them. “You think, I’m joking, they’re almost all gymansts, the stuff they do on hard wood, it blows my mind.’’

“Anyway it’s so great to see you guys,’’ he said. “I thought I’d get to play a little bit.’

Back to Politico‘s description of Joe Biden’s, ahem, charm:

On Saturday, at Mel’s Diner, a Fort Meyers, Fla., joint, not the fictional greasy spoonon TV’s “Alice,” Biden asked a group of nurses if they would “take my pulse.” …

At one stop, a woman handed her phone to Biden so that he could talk to her husband. “I’m sitting here with your wife,” Biden said, catching himself. “Not alone.”

So, an over-Botoxed public figure kissing random women, making suggestive comments about young cheerleaders through his giant, Guy Smiley veneers, and indulging in nurse fantasies on the trail are all glowing political assets now. Remember when Peter Orszag was allegedly sexy? Must be nice to be a Democrat. Who’s up for a waitress sandwich! You know, for women’s empowerment!

When the Obama campaign says “vote like your lady parts depend on it,” maybe they just mean it’ll get Joe Biden off the trail.

A couple ladies Biden hasn’t charmed yet seized on his comments Tuesday:

“Vice President Biden made a stunning admission today and we couldn’t agree more: the middle class has been ‘buried’ under the last four years of this President’s policies,” said Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg. “Under President Obama, the middle class has suffered from crushing unemployment, rising prices and falling incomes. They can’t afford to be ‘buried’ for four more years.”

“We agree, the middle class has been buried the past four years by Obama’s failed policies from higher taxes to more debt, which is why he doesn’t deserve another term in the White House to make it worse,” said Kirsten Kukowski, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee.

There’s no accounting for how they resist him.