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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Joe Biden saves the day for Obama in debt ceiling deal -- Vice President is key figure in deal with GOP in senate

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Joe Biden saves the day for Obama in debt ceiling deal -- Vice President is key figure in deal with GOP in senate

Posted on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 10:55 PM

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VICE President Joe Biden is seen as the man who created the breakthrough in the debt ceiling talks with the Republican Party.

Biden, the Irish American vice president, had a lengthy Senate career before taking up his present job, and has maintained close contacts with former colleagues on both sides.

Unlike President Obama, who spent only a couple of years in the Senate, Biden still has great credibility on both sides.

He conducted secret negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, with whom he has a cordial relationship, throughout the worst of the crisis.

Biden has become Obama’s go to guy in a crisis, and it didn’t get much bigger than the debt ceiling war.

The consequences of failing to reach a deal were totally unpredictable, but fears were expressed on both sides that stock prices would collapse, interest rates would rise, and the most spectacular own goal in the history of the U.S. would have been accomplished.

It was this scenario which eventually drove both sides together. And Biden and McConnell, despite all the heated rhetoric, kept their eyes on the prize.

The two men continued to meet in secret right up until yesterday when the deal was struck.

Biden’s ability to work with Republicans has made him the most indispensable person in the Obama administration on domestic affairs.

With no thoughts of the presidency himself, Biden has undertaken the toughest tasks that the Obama administration has faced.

Once again he has played a huge role in grabbing a victory from the jaws of defeat, and has helped further cement the bond between him and Obama.

In the end Obama will get the kudos, but insiders in the White House will know that without Biden no deal could have been reached.

He is friendly and gregarious, in contrast to the aloof and professorial Obama. His Irish wit and humor have managed to lighten the mood during many intense negotiations.

Dick Cheney was an incredibly powerful vice president – some believe the real power behind the George W. Bush throne.

Biden is not that, but he is a facilitator, a man who can get a deal done despite the obstacles.

Such problem solvers are rare these days in American politics, and Biden has rightly become the best-known of them.

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seanomelbourne | Aug 03, 2011, 03:54 AM EDT

I am not a mick moron-y crawl back into your trailer and curl up with your firewater.

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maloney | Aug 02, 2011, 11:30 PM EDT

Thank goodness you're a roohumping mick seano, we've got enough idiots in America all ready.

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peterson | Aug 02, 2011, 02:43 PM EDT

He is just another of obama's Thugs!!

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cathy/marty | Aug 02, 2011, 09:25 AM EDT

It sounds like Patrick is getting a tingle up his leg for Joe??? The only thing Biden did not do was saying something stupid.

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seanomelbourne | Aug 01, 2011, 07:02 PM EDT

Biden an American hero. I wait with baited breath to see how many teahadist fall in line with the "status Quo". They will eventually learn it's not all about them and history dictates their future. Their survival in washington is all about Self preservation and they will fall in line again and again! and again.

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Nicomax | Aug 01, 2011, 03:54 PM EDT

Some vile comments about Biden so far, likely from those who thought Sister Sarah from the tundra would have been just one snappy VP.

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maloney | Aug 01, 2011, 01:23 PM EDT

Biden is well known for his stupidity and sticking his foot in his mouth! The VP of gaff. You seem to think this deal is done Patty. Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 01, 2011, 12:59 PM EDT

On hearing that William Henry Harrison was running for the Great Chief of the Americans, Tecumseh's Brother, "The Prophet," (a Shawnee Chief) is said to have stated this curse: "Brother, be of good cheer. Before one winter shall pass, the chance will yet come to build our nation and drive the Americans from our land. If this should fail, then a curse shall be upon the great chief of the Americans, if they shall ever pick Harrison to lead them. "His days in power shall be cut short. And for every twenty winters following, the days in power of the great chief which they shall select shall be cut short. Our people shall not be the instrument to shorten their time. Either the Great Spirit shall shorten their days or their own people shall shoot them. "This is not all. Each contest to select their great chief shall be marked by sharp divisions within their nation. Within seven winters of each contest, there shall be a war among their people, either within their nation or with other nations, I know not which. Our people shall prosper only if they can avoid these wars." Maybe Reagan's survival did not break the curse. Perhaps, with the 2000 election of G.W., it has fallen more upon our people than on the presidency. We sure seem to be "warring" amoung ourselves these days.

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Portia777 | Aug 01, 2011, 12:03 PM EDT

These boys must think the people are stupid to believe this. It is merely prolonging the collapse of creating money out of nothing. DEBT = MONEY- so the more debt the more money/paper the feds can create out of thin air- so of course it all looks grand. It is really the rich who will benefit, not the ordinary citizen who is now heading for auto genocide. God bless America. Their karma is upon them.

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 01, 2011, 12:03 PM EDT

Patrick, the "Own Goal" analogy to not raising the debt ceiling is perfect. I had not heard it used before and I have been intently following the republican/tea party created crisis on several cable stations, web media and our local news. "Shooting ourselves in the foot" was the only similar one I'd heard. Why do we Americans always reach first for the firearms analogy? Thanks for a little peak at the blue sky behind the storm clouds.

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Mavaureen | Aug 01, 2011, 10:44 AM EDT

I guess thy didn't like my comment post...oh, well.

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Mavaureen | Aug 01, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT

*resounding...sorry 'bout that.

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Mavaureen | Aug 01, 2011, 10:41 AM EDT

I just love these internet jokes!!! Guess we have the resouinding warning of 2012 election campaign.

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BiffSissy | Aug 01, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT

Could we have some details please? Factual information rather than rhetoric; your writer would do well in politics