President Obama has announced that he'll be placing Vice President Joe Biden in charge of overseeing the Spending & Debt Package passed a couple of weeks ago.
"The fact that I'm asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right," he said.
Biden, in his new role, would meet regularly with key members of the Cabinet, governors and mayor to make sure their efforts are speedy and effective. He is expected to make regular reports to the president that will be posted online at www.recovery.gov.
You can't make this stuff up.
This from a VP who can't count to three, and a President who thinks we have to re-do the flag. Still, the way Washington does accounting, perhaps he's the perfect man for the job.
We were told, variously, that Joe Biden would add foreign policy gravitas to the incoming administration, and immediately after the election that he wouldn't have a significant policy role. As Jim Geraghty points out, every statement from Barack Obama comes with an expiration date, the trick is figuring out what it is.
Nevertheless, it's hard to see how this is a really a significant role for Biden. He's not going to know the innards of the cabinet departments any better than the various secretaries do. Running those agencies is already a more-than-full-time job for them (unless it's Commerce, of course), and rarely has any cabinet secretary been able to implement any sort of efficiency program. Just ask Jim Hacker.
If Obama were serious about spending this money wisely he wouldn't have pressed for this bill in the first place. So Biden's appointment, like much else with this administration, is probably intended to give the appearance of something important, rather than the substance.
