“Be my friend… Godfather.”
The last Vice President with no hope to ever hold the top spot was Dick Cheney — but then he always knew that. For better or worse, George W Bush didn’t pick a veep with the party’s future in mind. Instead, he picked someone with gravitas to add some heft to a young candidate, and to act as sort of a Prime Minister.
Young Senator Barack Obama also picked his veep for his gravitas (true story!), but poor Joe never knew he had no real future, no shot at the top spot. Biden’s real job was to act as a sort of gaffe deflector — and poor Joe never seems to have understood he had no real shot at the top spot.
Biden has been toying with a presidential bid but said little about it in recent weeks as all focus has turned to his chief competitor, Clinton.
And Obama has talked Clinton up more than Biden, saying last week, “She was a formidable candidate in 2008. She was a great supporter of mine in the general election. She was an outstanding secretary of state. She is my friend.”
He added, “I think she would be an excellent president.”
You’re out, Joe.
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