Rebecca Kelliher
Editor-in-Chief
Although late-night comedians are currently mourning the tragic loss of our nation’s little Shrub, hope for comic gold can still be found. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden may have been around the political arena for some time (36 years, to be exact), but the next four years promise to add even more to his budding resume of jokes and gaffes. However, the one-slip-a-week fate of Biden could be detrimental to the Obama administration, despite the amusement it provides for the American people.
It is certainly not an exaggeration to say that one of President Obama’s crucial concerns during his presidency will be to keep Biden from saying anything that may be — to put it nicely — politically incorrect. However, this may mean gagging Biden, shoving him in a closet and hoping that no one will notice — politely done, of course.
Recently, Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, went on The Oprah Winfrey Show where Jill let it slip that her husband had the choice between becoming secretary of state or vice president. Whoops. Biden reacted to the blunder by loudly shushing his wife and laughing at the major faux pas. It’s safe to say current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton definitely wasn’t laughing at that moment.
On the campaign trail with Obama, Biden made another slip-up by confidently declaring that he had “three words” for what the nation needed to help get itself get out the current economic crisis — “J-O-B-S.” He later said that Franklin D. Roosevelt, when faced with the Great Depression, calmed the nation down by making regular appearances on TV. Sorry, Joe, but FDR had his famous “fireside chats” on the radio, not on the television.
Surprisingly (or maybe not that surprisingly if we are to suppose that the media is entirely liberally biased), Biden’s gaffes have never been seen as evidence of the vice president being unqualified or even stupid by the press. This was definitely not the case with our nation’s beloved hockey mom — Gov. Sarah Palin.
If it wasn’t for the Democrats often flippant dismissal of Biden’s careless remarks and playful antics by simply saying “that’s just Biden being Biden,” he could have already been known to America as the next Palin. Nonetheless, the prospect of this happening has not died yet, and probably remains the greatest fear among Obama supporters.
Yet, Biden’s “gaffe machine” is still rather refreshing to those who are light-hearted enough to crack a smile. It can give the nation a much-needed break from the well-choreographed world of politicians who are too afraid to say anything that may hinder their next election. Biden once said at a Democratic Debate in 2007 “There’s only three things [Rudy Guiliani] mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb and 9/11.”
Even though Biden could very well become the bane of the Obama administration’s existence, he certainly makes politics worth paying attention to — especially for a country in need of a couple of laughs. Americans who are seeking a little humor amidst the melting economic crisis our country is facing can take comfort in Good Old Joe — to the dismay of the entire Obama administration and Democratic Party.