Ezra Klein: Joe Biden is not Barack Obama

[Otto Lidenbrock]

34. I'm with you on that

My post was less to correct you but more to apply a bit of context to the widespread public opinion that Dick Cheney changed it. Cheney when he was Vice President certainly ramped it up to a point where he was the one wearing the pants in the relationship. However other vice presidents were influential too in a good way.

There's an old book I read chronicling this and basically the conclusion was once the Cold War was underway the days of the vice president being an electoral tool to win a state or two and then sit on the sidelines was over. Because the presidency became too big for one person. Herbert Hoover outlived JFK but the country Hoover led was a part of a different world to what JFK led.

It's why Joe's selection will be very interesting. People have said, and he himself has said ideally it would be a female and a female of colour would be best. But he also needs somebody who voters can rest assured has something to offer on day one rather than learn on the job because (God forbid) the VP might have to assume the presidency and have the weight of the world on their shoulders.