Biden ... Obama's new Rahm?

[Clio the Leo]

Joe Biden expands role as White House link to Congress
By CAROL E. LEE & JOHN BRESNAHAN | 12/9/10 4:34 AM EST Updated: 12/9/10 8:21 AM EST

With Capitol Hill increasingly hostile territory for President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden seems ready to take the place of the departed Rahm Emanuel as the one senior administration official who can deliver the White House’s position — good news or bad — to members and senators of both parties.

White House officials say it’s the same role the vice president, who served nearly four decades in the Senate, has played since the start of the administration. But in the absence of Emanuel, who formerly served as Obama’s chief of staff and as a House member, no one in the West Wing matches Biden when it comes to his ties on the Hill, depth of knowledge on how Congress works and having the members’ trust on both sides of the aisle.

Obama gave Biden a pivotal role in the tax-cut talks on the Hill, making him the lead negotiator with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Biden is also the point person on the White House’s efforts to win enough Senate votes for a new START treaty during the lame-duck session. And he met last week at the White House with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is preparing to take over as chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and who is expected to dig into the administration’s spending of economic stimulus money.

But his most public assignment of late has been as the White House’s emissary to Democrats, tasked with trying to tamp down their anger over a tax-cut deal hammered out largely between the White House and GOP leaders.

The vice president had a blunt message for House Democrats on Wednesday during a closed-door session, according to members who attended. “It’s as good as it gets,” Biden told them, taking a hard line that did not go well with everyone.

“The vice president said, ‘This is the deal, take it or leave it,’” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

But at least one member felt Biden’s attentiveness was a salve for Democrats wounded by the product and the process that cut them out. “He made it easier,” said one attendee. “The vice president was pitch-perfect in tone. He was respectful. He really talked to the members in a way that they knew he was listening.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46173.html

[WI_DEM]

1. But I'm sure that Biden will have more tact and charm than Rahm did.

[Clio the Leo]

2. He wont swear any less...

... because Joe Biden is FING AWESOME!!!!

[Larkspur]

3. Look to be a 1 term VP, Biden

You channeling Rahm and Obama channeling Reagan will further depress the Dem base turnout in 2012.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

5. i worry more about the sections on the left that seems to be channeling the tea partiers myself n/t

[Larkspur]

8. I dislike those who claim to support the Left using DLC tactics to browbeat the Moral Left

Sycophants are mindless drones, and there are plenty of Obama cultists on this board spewing DLC talking points.

[CakeGrrl]

9. Oh dear, the "Moral Left"

as opposed to...?

Note, it's never a good idea when one group tries to assert the self-righteous "moral" high ground, especially within its own party, but good luck with that, Falwell of the Left.

:crazy:

I expect your self-proclamation to fail.

[dionysus]

6. .

:rofl:

[truthspeak]

4. So Obama made another great move then...

in choosing Biden as VP...So much for the "incompetent, inexperienced" guy.

[dionysus]

7. he's just... in over his head...

;)

[w4rma]

10. Credit Card Biden loves this bill. (nt)

[Dr.Phool]

11. Leave it Henry.

I've never talked to anybody, more full of shit in my life, than Joe Biden.

He tells some good jokes though. But, we didn't elect a comedian.

[Phx_Dem]

12. Go BIden!

:patriot:

[Hawkowl]

13. Biden is Rahm with interpersonal skills

Meaning, he'll sell out everyone to the big banks and the old money. He just does it with a big ole smile, and a pat on the back (to find the soft spot to put the knife).