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Joe Biden Is Obama's Best Gadfly, 'Truth-Teller'

Hardly a joke, veep doesn't mind stirring the pot

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 11, 2009 1:20 PM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama's suave, controlled campaign may have winced when gaffe-prone Joe Biden came aboard, but the vice president has proven himself to be a necessary straight-shooter time and again in the administration's tumultuous first nine months. From Afghanistan to health care, Biden has become Obama's most reliable "truth teller," and one who doesn't mind stirring the pot, reports Newsweek in a profile of the White House's No. 2.

Typical is the veep's skepticism of expanding the war in Afghanistan, favoring instead a focused effort against the Taliban in Pakistan. The approach was largely dismissed when Biden proposed it in March, but is gaining steam as the president weighs the hard realities of sending more troops. Ever the gadfly, Biden "says the things that others at the table don't want to talk about, or which they find uncomfortable," says Rahm Emanuel.

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (1)]

Vice President Joe Biden greets Delaware Adjutant General Frank Vavala during a welcome ceremony for the Delaware Army National Guard 261st Signal Brigade, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, in Dover, Del. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

The October 19 issue of Newsweek, "Why Joe is No Joke," features Joe Biden as an "inconvenient truth teller" who has bucked President Obama on health care and Afghanistan. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK)

Vice President Joe Biden before he addresses the New Jersey AFL-CIO 2009 Conference, in Atlantic City, NJ, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009. Biden has become a political workhorse for President Obama. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice president Joe Biden addresses the New Jersey AFL-CIO 2009 Legislative Conference in Atlantic City, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President Joe Biden along with Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., right, discuss how the Recovery Act investments are creating jobs and rebuilding Connecticut's infrastructure in Fairfield Conn. Monday Oct.... (AP Photo/Douglas Healey)

Vice President Joe Biden responds to news that the nation's unemployment rate rose in September, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009,, during a meeting of his Middle Class Task Force in the White House. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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The president will lean over, and they will quietly talk to each other. Biden will then question someone, make comments, and the president just leans back and seems to be taking it all in before he speaks. - Attorney General Eric Holder

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 21 comments

SilenceDogood

Oct 13, 2009 11:33 AM CDT

Zaius, get real, Biden and GWB are both less that acceptable. You accept flaws in one that are not acceptable in the other; your bias is too obvious.

SilenceDogood

Oct 13, 2009 11:30 AM CDT

Why is it liberals seem to get personal and attack the messenger rather than the message, I wonder if it is because they feel their position is weak? Anyway shonangreg, my comment was simply that Biden is a poor choice for VP of the USA. God forbid anything happen to Obama, Biden would be the last person we would want at the helm, he makes Dan Quayle look like Winston Churchill.

oldgoat

Oct 12, 2009 11:37 AM CDT

I like the idea that he is asking questions instead of just going along with the flow. Too bad it wasn't done in the previous administration. The general is basing his needs on the task he was assigned. Obama has to decide if the mission needs to be changed or if he even has the support of Congress or the people, let alone the people in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

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Joe Biden • vice president • foreign policy • gaffe • presidential adviser • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • Obama Cabinet

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Joe Biden Is Obama's Best Gadfly, 'Truth-Teller'