A Hidden Puppet Master?
Reports indicate that Joe Biden regularly consults with Barack Obama on a range of issues, but how deep is the relationship in reality?
Let me ask you a question.
Why would you regularly consult with someone who admitted they thought you were not so great?
Unless of course you worked under or for that person. This is the only thing that makes sense to me in this particular situation.
Why is Joe Biden constantly consulting with a man who has been really dismissive of him behind the scenes?
Who is really in control here?
Who is the puppet, and who is the puppeteer?
I’ll let you come to those conclusions yourself after reading the following reports.
Take a look:
Fox News reported:
Psaki was asked by a reporter whether Obama had visited the White House and how often the two speak, to which she responded that Obama and Biden have a relationship that is not defined as president and vice president – instead, they are “friends.”
“They consult and talk about a range of issues and I would expect that continues through the course of President Biden’s presidency,” Psaki said. “That can be done over the phone it turns out, and I think if President Obama had been here, you would all know.”
Psaki declined to give an exact number of times that the powerful pair had spoken, but said they “keep in regular touch” and their respective teams also were in regular touch “about a range of issues.”
An earlier report by Politico revealed this:
Interviews with dozens of senior officials of the Obama-Biden administration painted a picture of eight years during which the president and vice president enjoyed a genuinely close personal relationship, built particularly around devotion to family, while at the same time many senior aides, sometimes tacitly encouraged by the president’s behavior, dismissed Biden as eccentric and a practitioner of an old, outmoded style of politics.
Biden’s tendency to blurt out whatever was on his mind rankled Obama, who wasn’t afraid to needle him for it. In his first press conference in 2009, the young president quipped “I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to—not surprisingly,” when asked about Biden’s assessment that there was a 30 percent chance they could get the economic stimulus package wrong.
The gaffes were only one side of the story, though. Obama warmed both to Biden’s effusive personality and his skill in implementing the administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus package, which the president had delegated to him.
“Biden doesn’t come from the wonky angle of leadership. It’s different than the last two Democratic presidents.”
Aides recall that Obama and Biden took almost polar-opposite approaches to policymaking, Obama always seeking data for the most logical or efficient outcome, while Biden told stories about how a bill would affect the working-class guy in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was born. When a deal was finally made, Obama would bemoan the compromises, while Biden would celebrate the points of agreement.