Joe Biden

Biden was a longtime member of the . He became its in 1997, and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009.. He collaborated effectively with Republicans and sometimes went against elements of his own party. Biden was also co-chairman of the Observer Group in the Senate. At times he also chaired the Committee's . in 1991,. after hearing about abuses during the in 1991. broke out, Biden was among the first to call for the "" policy of lifting the arms embargo, training and supporting them with air strikes, and investigating . The and were both reluctant to implement the policy, fearing Balkan entanglement. In April 1993, Biden spent a week in the Balkans and held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader . Biden wrote an amendment in 1992 to compel the Bush administration to arm the Bosnians, but deferred in 1994 to a somewhat softer stance the Clinton administration preferred, before signing on the following year to a stronger measure sponsored by and . Biden has called his role in affecting Balkans policy in the mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" related to foreign policy. named Biden one of "Twelve Who Made a Difference" for playing a lead role in several foreign policy matters, including and the successful passage of bills to streamline foreign affairs agencies and punish religious persecution overseas., Biden supported the . the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on President Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over actions toward in .

Biden was a strong supporter of the 2001 , saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it." was a threat to national security and there was no option but to "eliminate" that threat., approving the U.S. invasion of ., and touting Iraq's fictional possession of ., saying General was "dead, flat wrong" in believing the surge could work. of three states., president emeritus of the , released a comprehensive strategy to end ., , and "breathing room" in their own regions. but the idea was unfamiliar, had no political constituency, and failed to gain traction. issued a statement distancing itself from it. , after meeting with leader in . In May 2008, he sharply criticized President for a speech to 's in which he compared some Democrats to Western leaders who ; Biden called the speech "bullshit", "malarkey", and "outrageous". He later apologized for his language.[124]

Other

Biden strongly supported increased funding and rail security.] Biden co-taught a seminar on at . The seminar often had a waiting list and Biden sometimes flew back from overseas for the class.

During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation sought by credit card issuers., , at the time the world's largest independent credit card issuer, hired during the years when Biden was a senator and was pushing for bankruptcy reform legislation supported by the company, which became law and makes it more difficult to acquire bankruptcy protection. region is the nation's top chicken-producing area.[125]

Reputation

Elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden was reelected in , , , usually getting about 60% of the vote., who was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000. he was the 18th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. which he attributed to his having been elected young. measures during his first term. In 2019, Biden and his wife reported that their assets had increased to between $2.2 million and $8 million, thanks to speaking engagements and a contract to write a set of books. has written, "Biden is not an academic, he's not a theoretical thinker, he's a great street pol. He comes from a long line of working people in Scranton—auto salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has that great Irish gift." wrote that Biden has grown over time: "He responds to real people—that's been consistent throughout. And his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has gotten much much better." has written, "Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself."

Biden has a reputation for loquacity;. and sometimes "puts his foot in his mouth". wrote that Biden's "weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything".[145]

2008 presidential campaign

Biden chose not to run for president in 1992 in part because he had voted against authorizing the , In January 2007, he declared ., his record as chairman of major Senate committees, and his foreign-policy experience. Biden rejected speculation that he might become Secretary of State, In mid-2007, Biden stressed his foreign policy expertise compared to Obama's, saying of the latter, "I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training." Biden was noted for his one-liners during the campaign; in one debate he said of Republican candidate : "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11.":336

Biden had difficulty raising funds, struggled to draw people to his rallies, and failed to gain traction against the high-profile candidacies of Obama and Senator .. In the first contest on January 3, 2008, Biden placed fifth in the , garnering slightly less than one percent of the state delegates.

Despite its lack of success, Biden's 2008 campaign raised his stature in the political world., they had not been close, with Biden resenting Obama's quick rise to political stardom and Obama viewing Biden as garrulous and patronizing.[153]:28, 337–338

Shortly after Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Obama privately told him he was interested in finding an important place for Biden in his administration. In early August, Obama and Biden met in secret to discuss the possibility, On August 22, 2008, Obama announced that Biden would be his . reported that the strategy behind the choice reflected a desire to fill out the ticket with someone with and experience—and not to help the ticket win a or to emphasize Obama's "change" message. voters, as well as his willingness to aggressively challenge Republican nominee in a way that Obama seemed uncomfortable doing at times. In accepting Obama's offer, Biden ruled out running for president again in 2016, Biden was officially nominated for vice president on August 27 by voice vote at the in ., barred Biden from receiving there because of his support for abortion rights, Scranton became a flashpoint in the competition for swing-state Catholic voters between the Democratic campaign and liberal Catholic groups, who stressed that other social issues should be considered as much as or more than abortion, and many bishops and conservative Catholics, who maintained abortion was paramount. Bishop Saltarelli had previously said of stances like Biden's, "No one today would accept this statement from any public servant: 'I am personally opposed to human slavery and racism but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.' Likewise, none of us should accept this statement from any public servant: 'I am personally opposed to abortion but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.'" . During one week in September 2008, for instance, the 's found that Biden was included in only five percent of coverage of the race, far less than the other three candidates on the tickets received. and trying to win over blue-collar Democrats, especially those who had supported . Biden attacked McCain heavily despite a long-standing personal friendship. As the reached a peak with the and the became a major factor in the campaign, Biden voted in favor of the $700 billion , which went on to pass in the Senate 74–25. with Palin at . Post-debate polls found that while Palin exceeded many voters' expectations, Biden had won the debate overall. He also campaigned in some normally Republican states, as well as in areas with large Catholic populations.:411–414, 419 Obama campaign staffers referred to Biden blunders as "Joe bombs" and kept Biden uninformed about strategy discussions, which in turn irked Biden.:411–414 Publicly, Obama strategist said Biden's high popularity ratings had outweighed any unexpected comments. poll, compared to Palin's 44%. to McCain–Palin's 173. as permitted by Delaware law. to the Senate, defeating Republican . He became the youngest senator ever to start a seventh full term, and said, "In all my life, the greatest honor bestowed upon me has been serving the people of Delaware as their United States senator.", later that day.

Delaware Governor appointed longtime Biden adviser to fill Biden's vacated Senate seat.[192]

Biden said he intended to eliminate some of the explicit roles assumed by George W. Bush's vice president, , and did not intend to emulate any previous vice presidency. and headed an initiative to improve middle-class economic well-being., Afghanistan and , and the first vice president.

Obama was soon comparing Biden to a basketball player "who does a bunch of things that don't show up in the stat sheet". Biden lost an internal debate to Secretary of State about sending 21,000 new troops to , but his skepticism was valued, Biden visited Iraq about every two months, More generally, overseeing Iraq policy became Biden's responsibility: Obama was said to have said, "Joe, you do Iraq." His January 2010 visit to Iraq in the midst of turmoil over banned candidates from the resulted in 59 of the several hundred candidates being reinstated by the Iraqi government two days later.[210]

Biden was also in charge of overseeing intended to help counteract the , and stressed that only worthy projects should get funding. During this period, Biden was satisfied that no major instances of waste or corruption had occurred,

In late April 2009, Biden's off-message response to a question during the beginning of the , that he would advise family members against traveling on airplanes or subways, led to a swift retraction by the White House.. On March 23, 2010, a microphone picked up Biden telling the president that his signing the was "a big fucking deal" during live national news telecasts. White House press secretary replied on Twitter, "And yes Mr. Vice President, you're right ..." together. , White House chief of staff, said that Biden helped counter ., Biden's former communications director, said Biden played the role of "the bad guy in the Situation Room". Obama said, "The best thing about Joe is that when we get everybody together, he really forces people to think and defend their positions, to look at things from every angle, and that is very valuable for me.", attended the , and visited Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa.

Biden campaigned heavily for Democrats in the , maintaining an attitude of optimism in the face of predictions of large-scale losses for the party., Biden's past relationships with Republicans in Congress became more important. He led the successful administration effort to gain Senate approval for the . In December 2010, Biden's advocacy for a middle ground, followed by his negotiations with Senate minority leader , were instrumental in producing the administration's compromise tax package that included a temporary . Biden then took the lead in trying to sell the agreement to a reluctant Democratic caucus in Congress. The package passed as the .

In foreign policy, Biden supported the NATO-led in 2011.. By May 2011, a "Biden panel" with six congressional members was trying to reach a bipartisan deal on raising the as part of an overall plan. The developed over the next few months, but Biden's relationship with McConnell again proved key in breaking a deadlock and bringing about a deal to resolve it, in the form of the , signed on August 2, 2011, the same day an unprecedented had loomed. and one Republican staffer said, "Biden's the only guy with real negotiating authority, and [McConnell] knows that his word is good. He was a key to the deal.", lest failure adversely affect Obama's reelection prospects. He took the lead in notifying Congressional leaders of the successful outcome.[237]

Reelection

In October 2010, Biden said Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for the , conducted some secret polling and focus group research in late 2011 on the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. and White House officials later said Obama had never entertained the idea. gained considerable public attention in comparison to Obama's position, which had been described as "evolving". and within days, Obama announced that he too supported same-sex marriage, an action in part forced by Biden's unexpected remarks. The incident showed that Biden still struggled at times with , Relations were also strained between the campaigns when Biden appeared to use his position to bolster fundraising contacts for a possible run for president in

The Obama campaign nevertheless still valued Biden as a retail-level politician who could connect with disaffected, blue-collar workers and rural residents, and he had a heavy schedule of appearances in swing states as the began in earnest in spring 2012. An August 2012 remark before a mixed-race audience that Republican proposals to relax Wall Street regulations would "put y'all back in chains" led to a similar analysis of Biden's face-to-face campaigning abilities versus his tendency to go off track. wrote, "Most candidates give the same stump speech over and over, putting reporters if not the audience to sleep. But during any Biden speech, there might be a dozen moments to make press handlers cringe, and prompt reporters to turn to each other with amusement and confusion." wrote that Biden often went too far and "Along with the familiar Washington mix of neediness and overconfidence, Biden's brain is wired for more than the usual amount of goofiness." in ., in the on October 11 in . There he made a feisty, emotional defense of the Obama administration's record and energetically attacked the Republican ticket, attempting to regain the momentum lost by Obama's unfocused debate performance against Republican nominee the week before.

On November 6, 2012, Obama and Biden were elected to second terms. to Romney–Ryan's 206 and 51% of the popular vote., created to address the causes of in the aftermath of the .", Biden's relationship with McConnell once more proved important as the two negotiated a deal that led to the being passed at the start of 2013. It made many of the Bush tax cuts permanent but raised rates on upper income levels.[256]

Second term (2013–2017)

Biden was on January 20, 2013, at a small ceremony at , his official residence, with Justice presiding (a public ceremony took place on January 21)., the Obama administration put forth executive orders and proposed new gun control measures

Biden played little part in discussions that led to the October 2013 passage of the , which resolved the and the . This was because Senate majority leader and other Democratic leaders cut him out of any direct talks with Congress, feeling Biden had given too much away during previous negotiations., begun in the first term, as well as the , begun in January 2014 with Biden and as co-chairs. Biden discussed federal guidelines on sexual assault on university campuses while giving a speech at the University of New Hampshire. He said, "No means no, if you're drunk or you're sober. No means no if you're in bed, in a dorm or on the street. No means no even if you said yes at first and you changed your mind. No means no."., renewed attention was paid to the Biden-Gelb Iraqi federalization plan of 2006, with some observers suggesting Biden had been right all along. Biden himself said the U.S. would follow "to the gates of hell"., and the had "poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against , except that the people who were being supplied were , and al-Qaeda, and the extremist elements of coming from other parts of the world." In one case, a senator issued a statement afterward saying of his daughter, "No, she doesn't think the vice president is creepy."; he also introduced .

In 2015, and invited Israeli prime minister to address a joint session of Congress without notifying the Obama administration. This defiance of protocol led Biden and more than 50 congressional to skip Netanyahu's speech. (AIPAC) Policy Conference in , saying, "We're all united by our unyielding—I mean literally unyielding—commitment to the survival, the security, and the success of the Jewish State of .", where he met with Serbian president and expressed his condolences for civilian victims of the bombing campaign during the Kosovo War.

On December 8, 2016, Biden went to to meet with .[286]

Role in the 2016 presidential campaign

During his second term, Biden was often said to be preparing for a possible bid for the . in January 2017, he would have been the in history.'s favorability ratings in decline at that time, Biden was reported to again be seriously considering the prospect and a "Draft Biden 2016" was established., Biden was still uncertain about running. He cited his son's recent death as a large drain on his emotional energy, and said, "nobody has a right ... to seek that office unless they're willing to give it 110% of who they are." with his wife and Obama by his side, Biden announced his decision not to run for president in 2016.

As of the end of January 2016, neither Biden nor Obama had endorsed anyone in the 2016 presidential election. Biden missed his annual Thanksgiving tradition of going to , opting instead to travel abroad and meet with several European leaders. He took time to meet with , having previously met with , both 2016 candidates. Neither of these meetings was considered an endorsement, as Biden had said he would meet with any candidate who asked. Though Biden and Clinton were scheduled to campaign together in Scranton on July 8, Clinton canceled the appearance in light of the the previous day.. On June 20, Biden critiqued Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States as well as his stated intent to along the border with Mexico, adding that Trump's suggestion to either torture or kill family members of terrorists was damaging both to American values and "to our security". On October 21, the anniversary of his decision not to run, Biden said he wished he were still in high school so he could take Trump "behind the gym". and the next day, Trump responded that he would "love that".[303]