Last updated: 12:06 pm February 23, 2009 Posted: 12:05 pm February 23, 2009
The gaffe-prone Joe Biden will now be handling more of your money.
President Obama said his vice president would oversee the implementation of the $787 billion economic stimulus package.
Obama made the announcement today before the National Governors Association in Washington, saying Biden will not only ensure that the cash is distributed, but make sure it is "also efficient and effective."
"The fact that I'm asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right," Obama said.
In his new role as stimulus czar, Biden, 66, would meet regularly with congressional lawmakers, governors and mayors to make certain their efforts in reviving the economy are both effective and swift.
The often-blunt Biden is famous for giving his opinion and being vice president has not stopped him.
In a recent CNBC interview, he was more vocally supportive of "buy American" trade protectionist provisions in the hotly debated economic stimulus bill than was Obama.
During the debate over the stimulus plan, Biden declared there was a "30 percent chance we're going to get it wrong."
Those comments prompted Obama to later say, "You know, I don't remember exactly what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly."
Poster Comment:
LOL !
ANALYSIS / Obama played it safe, but is Biden good for Israel?
After weeks of anticipation, speculation and even gambling - presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to name Senator Joe Biden as his running mate was leaked in the middle of the night. The Democratic candidate was forced to send out text messages to his supporters at 3 A.M. so that they would not be disappointed, having expected to be the first to know.
As far as Obama is concerned, Biden is not a soul mate, but he is certainly a safe choice. Biden, 65, who participated in the Democratic Party primaries, brings with him a lot of experience, but also a heart wrenching history, which is essential in enticing the middle class voters. Biden was born to a wealthy family, but his father went bakrupt and the family moved to a working class neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden was forced to do manual labor on the weekends to supplement his family's income when he was growing up.
It appears that Obama's choice will make the lives of the Republican campaign writers a little harder than usual. In the past, Republicans went to great lengths to demonstrate how "limousine liberals" were detached from the needs of the people. Flashing the elitist card has helped the Republicans defeat many Democratic candidates, including John Kerry. This time, Obama, a product of a single mother home, and Biden, appear much more authentic and down to earth than their rival John McCain, with his wealthy wife and the family's seven homes.
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Only a few weeks before he was elected to the U.S. senate in 1972, Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. Biden considered leaving politics, but ultimately remained. Today he is remarried, and father to two children from his first marriage and another child from his second marriage.
Biden is a Catholic, a Syracuse University graduate and a politician with 35 years of experience. He quit the presidential race earlier this year due to his low ranking in the polls. His bid to reach the White House in 1988 also ended in failure after he was accused of plagiarizing one of his speeches. That year, Biden nearly died from an arterial aneurism.
The vice presidential candidate currently chairs the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, a post that Obama hopes will compensate for his own lack of experience in the global realm.
Biden is a firm supporter of Israel, but the way he sees the U.S.'s role in the Middle East doesn't necessarily reflect Jerusalem's ideal of the ideal "American partner."
When it comes to the Iranian threat, it is not clear that the Obama-Biden combo will raise smiles in Jerusalem. Biden's past remarks have sparked criticism and have been described as "inconsistent." Biden has said more than once that he does not think that isolating Iran is the most efficient way to combat the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions, and he has even urged sensitivity to Iran's needs. He met with a senior Iranian official in Davos, which led his detractors to say that he was willing to negotiate with an extremist regime that supports terrorism. On the other hand, Biden has proclaimed that a nuclear Iran was "unacceptable."
Following Obama's announcement that he selected Biden, the Republican Jewish Coalition immediately issued a response, saying that with Biden, Obama's ticket was even more dangerous. Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks explained that "with the selection of Senator Joe Biden the Democrat's ticket has become an even greater gamble for the Jewish community. Throughout his career, Senator Biden has consistently been wrong on Iran and his voting record on Israel has been inconsistent. Like Obama, Biden fundamentally misunderstands the threat posed by an Iran determined to obtain nuclear weapons. Biden has continuously demonstrated poor judgment on Iran. He has voted against significant legislation that would pressure Iran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. Biden has failed to recognize the serious threat that Iran poses to Israel and the US and its allies in the Middle East."
During his years on Capitol Hill, Biden has developed a reputation of a decent principled man. His main weakness is the fact that he talks a lot and usually says what he thinks without censoring his comments. This weakness could be an advantage for Obama because when he says what he thinks, Biden falls in line with Obama's message of revolutionizing politics.
Obama, if elected, will quickly find that despite the presidential authorities, a president often has difficulty advancing his own agenda, facing resistance from the House of Representatives. Biden could certainly help Obama grease the right wheels.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
