What's happening with Vice-President Joe Biden? What happened to the great gaffes we've become accustomed to? Mr. Biden provided clear answers, not ones we agree with in totality, but has he become the Administration's voice of reason. But that's not without having to sell the President's policies and deals such as the one Mr. Obama made on taxes. By the end of the interview, we got our old Joe back.
Mr. Biden said that this tax deal will grow the economy faster in the short term, potentially by as much as 3.5% in 2011, and that will translate directly into jobs. However, the question needs to be asked, why haven't these tax cuts that have been in place for 10 years created significantly more jobs already? Is it because business feels a particular amount of uncertainty? Hardly... tax cuts for the top 2% only add to the deficit, and the government needs tax revenue and it's the least painfully effected place to get it. That tax increase is what would really stimulate the economy.
Mr. Gregory asked it was a broken promise on the part of the Administration. Mr. Biden said that he and the President feel that the tax cuts are morally troubling, but that they had to make this deal. He later also said that the President is a "progressive leader that understands that politics is the art of the possible." That sounds real nice and all, but what it really means is that the President has to be a pragmatist with regard to the Republican Senators to get anything he wants to do done. How the administration should clearly position this and have its spokespeople out there spreading the message is that here's what the tax deal accomplished for the middle class... boom. boom. boom... (unemployment insurance, small business tax breaks, etc.) and to get these things Republicans wanted tax cuts for the rich.
Did they break a promise? Yes. It's all due in part by a broken vision. President Obama had a vision on where he wanted to lead America, but underestimated Republican, frankly 'old-guard', opposition. Hence, deals are made and promises broken... he's not the first and certainly won't be the last President to do it. Mr. Biden summed it up saying, "We got to the end, we didn't make it, so we had to do something." And in this case, something was better than nothing.
Mr. Biden also, once again, made it clear that their view of the election is that the American people want Republicans and Democrats to work together. At the time of this interview, which was Saturday, the vote for Don't Ask Don't Tell was still pending. As of this writing, we know that in fact the measure is passed. In that vote, there were 8 Republican Senators who broke ranks with the Senator McCain-lead opposition. On what is such a controversial issue for some, it was refreshing to see Senators who would otherwise be talked into voting the Republican party line, go with how they felt. We single out the Republicans in this instance because we've seen Democratic Senators go against their party for self-interest [i.e. Senators Nelson (D-NE) and Landreau (D-LA)] to break up the Democratic agenda, but that's the way it goes. Republicans, on the other hand, are not known for doing this, especially in the last 20 years or so.
So working together can happen, but as you can see, Republican Senators are still holding up three important pieces of legislation and one of those is the START Treaty, who said that some of the Republican criticism is substantive, but also said that it is essential for U.S. Security. It can not be ignored or overstated the wide swath of foreign policy officials, Secretaries of State, and pundits on both sides say that this should be passed. This treaty puts our inspectors on the ground in Russia so that we can monitor what they have and where they have it. Our nuclear weapons are not in jeopardy of being stolen, theirs are.
And then... the Joe Biden we know and love... "Come Hell or High Water", The United States is out of Afghanistan by 2014. Definitely news-worthy, but despite Mr. Biden also saying, "Your word means something in this town [Washington D.C.]," we take this 2014 statement with a grain of salt. It is still completely ambiguous what us 'getting out' on that date will look like. Mr. Biden also mentioned counter-terrorism, the hunt of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, and we know that's not going to stop in we're not satisfied with the results at that time so it's a great sound bite, but we'll wait and see. And to go out onto somewhat of a limb, withdrawal in 2014 will still mean we'll have tens of thousands of people on the ground there... not much of a limb.
Lastly, Mr. Biden said that Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is closer to high-tech terrorist than being a reporter receiving the Pentagon Papers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers), and that he's made it much more difficult for the United States to work with its friends and allies. Frankly, in this digital information age, the onus is on the United States to keep sensitive digital cables secure. If it's not Julian Assange, it will be some one else who commits the leaks. Irrespective of how you classify his actions, it doesn't change the fact that it was our [The United States] break down, and if one of the costs is that the Vice President has to go it alone in a meeting with world leaders, then so be it.
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