Obama's Vice President

[Tani Coyote]

Biden and Hilary seem good where they are relative to his agenda.

I suspect Obama will keep Biden unless Biden gets out of line or decides he wants to retire.

I can't remember the last time a President switched his VP when the VP was still alive and hadn't resigned.

 

[innonimatu]

Who the hell is Biden anyway?

Or in other words, why do people there care about vice-presidents?

 

[Tani Coyote]

Who the hell is Biden anyway?

Or in other words, why do people there care about vice-presidents?

The VP has the power to break ties in the Senate, for one.

He can also be used to test ideas the President himself is uncomfortable announcing. Biden has traditionally been a mouthpiece for Obama's more aggressive policies, as far as I recall.

The VP is also the closest thing we have to a constitutional monarch - very limited power, but they still wield a lot of influence with their presence. The VP is often sent to meetings the President does not go to.

Also in the rare event, God forbid, of the President dying, who the VP is suddenly becomes a lot more important.

 

[bombshoo]

Who the hell is Biden anyway?

Or in other words, why do people there care about vice-presidents?

Because he takes over if the President dies, issues a tie breaking vote in the Senate and presides over joint sessions of Congress for counting the Electoral College. So yeah, constitutionally they generally do very little. When the President can't make an important funeral or something, it is traditional to send the VP as well.

While it used to be a dead-ended job, in recent administrations (Clinton, Bush II, Obama) the VP has done quite a bit more and are usually given management of some special jobs and tasks within the executive branch, in addition to being an adviser of sorts.

 

[Cutlass]

Who the hell is Biden anyway?

Or in other words, why do people there care about vice-presidents?

Biden was a long time Senator before becoming VP. Many VPs, no one really notices. Most the past VPs can't be named by more than a handful of people. They rarely do anything that stands out. But a few presidents make use of them.

 

[NickyJ]

Has less to do with actual power than with prestige and with setting up a run in 2016. Easier to run as the former VP than Sec of State.

It's also a good way of making peace with rivals in your party, much the way Reagan chose Bush Sr. Making peace with rivals in your party is one of the keys to winning elections.

 

[say1988]

I don't think Obama would or should take a new VP, unless of course Biden wanted to step down for health or personal reasons. Dumping Biden would basically be tacitly admitting there is something wrong and thus that you could have done things better. Biden is a bit goofy sometimes, but he is a certainly a sound candidate.

Of course I don't see any evidence that Biden wouldn't take one for the team. Even if he is dumped it will publicly be him declining to stay for family reasons or some such. There would be talk, but I can't see a huge battle.

I don't see where there's any gain by ditching Biden.

Unless Obama's team sees the need to get in with some demographic that another VP candidate would help with. Biden also seems to get knocked on in the press as dead weight, I don't know how deserved it is, but getting someone who could be viewed as more involved could be beneficial.

 

[downtown]

The president has my phone number.

 

[GamezRule]

Either downtown or Biden. Also, very few Vice-Presidents have actually become President.

 

[bombshoo]

Either downtown or Biden. Also, very few Vice-Presidents have actually become President.

It seems like a lot to me.

I believe 14 have, so that's about 32%. That's more than Secretary of State (which I'd guess is the office with the second most, not counting governors and congressmen), which only has produced six Presidents by my count.

 

[illram]

Why would he do this? Seems like it would be creating an issue where none ever existed. I would also think a re-election campaign should project a theme of stability; shaking up the VP would not do that.

 

[say1988]

I presume he meant elected directly from VP to president (as the conversation was become VP in 2012 and run for President in 2016).
So you exclude Tyler (lol, didn't realise he was later elected to the Confederate Congress), Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford who attained presidency on the death or resignation of the President rather than through an election, though 4 of 9 were later elected to another term.
Nixon lost one election and sat out a second between his Vice Presidency and Presidency.

By excluding those never elected VP wins 9 to 6 by my count, removing those elected only after becoming president it is 6 to 5 for Secretary of State and directly jumping into presidency through an election is 4-3 for VP. More importantly, the last Secretary of State elected to the Presidency was 1825, while the last former Secretary of State was 1857 (and the other two of them were VP immediately before President). While you have H W Bush and Nixon within the past century being VP before President both positions were more common to become president in the 19th century.

There is no real reason for Hillary to want to be VP as a jumping off point for President unless she expects Obama to die or resign before 2016. Is she wants the job it is more likely she gave up on being President and decided to settle for first female Vice President. That is if she pushes for the job, I doubt she would object to it if it just fell into her lap.

 

[emzie]

I presume he meant elected directly from VP to president (as the conversation was become VP in 2012 and run for President in 2016).
So you exclude Tyler (lol, didn't realise he was later elected to the Confederate Congress)...

Tyler is weird. He was born in 1790. If you wanted, right now, you could call two of his grandsons.

 

[GamezRule]

I'm referring to sitting Vice-Presidents being elected President.