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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > VP Joe Biden suddenly looks like the smartest politician in America -- Irish American VP goes where no other politicians dare in Washington D.C.

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

VP Joe Biden suddenly looks like the smartest politician in America -- Irish American VP goes where no other politicians dare in Washington D.C.

Posted on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 07:04 AM

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Vice President Joe Biden arrives to a House

Democratic caucus meeting at the Capitol on Jan. 1, 2013.

(Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

Joe Biden is suddenly the most popular politician in Washington and a real contender for 2016. The latest opinion poll by Public Policy shows him running a strong second to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.

The Irish American Vice President, widely dismissed by the haughty press corps looking for the new and the beautiful, is at the very heart of the dramatic new initiatives by the Obama administration.

In a time of electoral gridlock, Biden appears to be the one figure who can reach out to the other side and force a civil discourse.

On the fiscal cliff he galloped to the rescue and cut the deal with Senator Mitch McConnell before riding off like the Lone Ranger. Opinion polls showed the public believed by a 57 per cent to 20 per cent margin that Biden’s deal was better for Democrats than Republicans.

Read more: The NRA will not allow Joe Biden to blame law-abiding gun owners for actions of madmen

Now on gun control he is defying the conventional wisdom again and getting real traction behind his recommendations which he will deliver to the president next week.

He has met with the NRA, Walmart, and every major gun constituency, forcing a dialogue where none existed before and making clear that action will be taken to prevent another Sandy Hook.

Don’t rule out the possibility of a deal that Biden can craft that the NRA can get along with, strange as that may seem.

Biden notes there appears to be a near universal belief that more background checks are needed for all gun sales.

He is determined that action will occur.

"There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet, but we're compiling it all with the help the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members, as well as legislative action, we believe, is required," he said.

Sure the NRA said it was “disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment.’’

But everything is different after Sandy Hook and Biden knows it even if the NRA does not.

He is suddenly being noticed. “These weeks can continue to set him up as one of the few who can deliver in an era when no one thinks accomplishments can happen and everyone believes Washington is broken — an appealing position to be in as he considers his future,” a Biden loyalist told the Washington Post.

Maureen Dowd in The New York Times stated, “Mr. Biden can spread everything out on the table and negotiate his way through all of his former colleagues' shortcomings, weaknesses, fears and frailties.”
In a time when American politics is so polarized Biden has managed the extraordinary trick of being able to appear reasonable to both sides.”

Chris Cilliza, who writes the influential The Fix column for the Washington Post, wrote, “What’s apparent and indisputable over these past few weeks is that Biden has put himself at the center of the national political conversation in ways that have helped his boss but also himself.”

In this new political arena maybe a pol with old fashioned skills is what’s really needed. Joe Biden is certainly starting off 2013 on fire.

Next up, immigration reform for the miracle worker?

Read more: Gun nuts lose argument over assault weapons ban, threaten civil war - VIDEO

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31 comments

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FastEddy | Jan 11, 2013, 12:47 PM EST

... Not! ... And being "the smartest politician" is not necessarily a compliment.

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Nicomax | Jan 11, 2013, 12:38 PM EST

What a race in 2016! Biden vs. Christie- old vs. young, trim vs. tubby, Irish vs. half-Irish, but in any case the two windiest pols in many generations. No need for huge TV ads, just film them on the campaign trail.

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71regiment | Jan 11, 2013, 12:07 PM EST

Niall, can't be serious about Joe Biden. This is the guy who puts his foot in his mouth with every other sentence.

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89west | Jan 11, 2013, 11:32 AM EST

a whole lot of talk with little possibility of action!

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Nicopernicus | Jan 11, 2013, 11:15 AM EST

@patrickaq and Padraig8, Clearly neither of you have a clue. The record speaks for itself. One need not be a Gun nut or a ammo clip packing sour grapes to recognize a severely inept man lathering at the politcal feet.

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Eschetic | Jan 11, 2013, 11:11 AM EST

The extremists and haters of the American Right Wing who continue to heap scorn on Vice President Biden,ignoring his actual years of solid leadership and achievement in the Senate, merely reveal either their own ignorance or how terrified they are at what a formidable foe he will be if allowed to be taken seriously (they remember their own experience with an infinitely LESS qualified former Hollywood actor who ultimately became President). If Vice President Biden can restore the ban on assault weapons which the NRA so inexplicably fights or make further reforms beyond that in our mad love affair with deadly fire arms in the hands of unregulated civilians, he could and *should* be our next president.

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patrickesq | Jan 11, 2013, 10:27 AM EST

Anyone who can craft a plan and legislation to pass reasonable gun control legislation deserves much respect and admiration. I suspect that your readers who ridicule and attach the capabilities and character of Vice President are fanatical gun rights people who are unable to have a reasonable thought or discussion about the need to have a more effective policy to prevent wholesale gun violence.

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Padraig8 | Jan 11, 2013, 10:12 AM EST

What a bunch of sour grapes,you people amaze me obama picked him and he is a work horse for the office, RESULTS arewhat count and that is what he will get.Biden 2016

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Nicopernicus | Jan 11, 2013, 10:05 AM EST

I am pleased as an American with the solid recognition below of what Biden is and what he reflects. Our incessant lust for the consummate politician double speak and general attempt to be the every day good guy, the do gooder of nations will be our demise. Biden is that poster boy.

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jamieLM | Jan 11, 2013, 09:50 AM EST

I don't agree with your assessment of Biden's intellectual capabilities. If he's the "smartest", we're really in trouble.

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jackinnj | Jan 11, 2013, 09:35 AM EST

The fact notwithstanding that he plagiarized his way through law school, this guy is as dumb as a bag of rocks.

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CavanAncestor | Jan 11, 2013, 09:33 AM EST

Why kind of vegetation are you smoking. This is the safe buffoon that was there before. The Fourth Estate used to pick on Dan Quayle incessantly but can't find Biden on their radar. He's right there, ther one with both feet in his mouth. Anybody care to remember Joe when running for President against Candidate Obama. Recall him screaming about Obama not taking his shotguns.

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kelauggie1 | Jan 11, 2013, 09:17 AM EST

This is a joke, right? He is a bumbling idiot doing the bidding of a nation-destroyer. This gets him the respect of Washington? That's why America's decline is so steep and rapid - when idiots are thought of as people to admire.

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handsome68 | Jan 11, 2013, 08:54 AM EST

From what I read, VP Biden has a seemingly endless flow of blather, like his boss. Americans love talkers: FDR is an example. So did Germans: Hitler is another example. Talk that harnesses the zeitgeist is one thing, doing real good for one's country? That is another.

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Nicopernicus | Jan 11, 2013, 08:42 AM EST

History will display Biden as a mouth piece...credibility is earned not taken.

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