An Ideological Coup In The Making

Watching the Vice Presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin, I was struck by what I would consider alarming responses from both candidates on the topic of the Vice Presidency itself. Both gave technically accurate answers on the nature of the office. I also believe there was a very subtle exchange between the two where Palin offered up a blind for Biden, handed him a pass.

I believe the following exchange was an ad lib by Palin, and a very calculated one intended to protect them both. Biden almost missed the memo, and Palin reigned him back in with some very uncomfortable laughter and distinct body language, Follow along! I watched the live debate on C-SPAN and I have reviewed the Vice Presidential questions segment over a dozen times now, and there is no mistaking the non-vocal conversation between both of them. It shows Palin can think on her feet, and it showed an intuitive ability on both of their parts.

Here is the exchange I am referring to:

IFILL: Everybody gets extra credit tonight. We're going to move on to the next question. Governor, you said in July that someone would have to explain to you exactly what it is the vice president does every day. You, senator, said, you would not be vice president under any circumstances. Now maybe this was just what was going on at the time. But tell us now, looking forward, what it is you think the vice presidency is worth now.

PALIN: In my comment there, it was a lame attempt at a joke and yours was a lame attempt at a joke, too, I guess, because nobody got it. Of course we know what a vice president does.

BIDEN: They didn't get yours or mine? Which one didn't they get?

PALIN: No, no. Of course, we know what a vice president does...[SOURCE]

Watching it, I asked myself, "First, why is Palin defending Biden? She's attacked him on every flip-flop she could memorize. Second, why is Biden taking a pass on the huge opening to make her look unqualified?"

Palin threw a blind for Biden, dominated the whole question and moved the debate in a direction that allowed for him to never have to address his own comments. Ifill even gave a potential pass by prefacing the question with, "Now maybe this was just what was going on at the time." Biden's main dereliction in the debate overall was the few times he seemed to still be running for President, upstaging the top of the ticket occasionally. Underscoring his comment about never wanting to be Vice-President would have hung a star on those moments. One of them was harshly underscored in Biden's answer about what his role was VP would be. More on that later.

I think Palin is smarter than Liberal spin paints her. I believe she knows that her thin resume is her weakest point (a question she never answered, when asked directly) and decided that she was willing to pass on the obvious opening of Biden's "not interested" stance on the VP slot, as long as she could keep him from attacking her, either. She jumped all over their collective gaffes, dismissed them both as a failed joke, and moved on immediately.

Palin gave what is technically an ultra-conservative view of the Vice Presidency, and all but completely endorsed Dick Cheney's modus operandi if not his ideological stance as well. No doubt she knows what it is, as the same Neo-Conservative cabal that orchestrated the Bush win of 2000 are her handlers. In this manner, Palin is already filling the traditional role of the Vice President, or one of them: to be a partisan enforcer for the President, to draw criticism away from the President. McCain's main problem overall may not be Democrats, but Republicans who are as eager to shed the Bush skin as anyone. I believe Palin "energizing the Conservative base" is code for Palin offering the Bush-continuity McCain needs to distance himself from.

Palin indicated she would take a much more active role in the Senate, and in policing McCain's agenda in Congress. I believe she also made it clear that her agenda in Congress would be to take control of Energy issues, and the "reform of government overall." That little bit was the most alarming of all her comments on the matter. It evoked an image of Palin more as a vice-principal than president, a subtle slap Biden offered up later when he said, "With regard to the role of vice president, I had a long talk, as I'm sure the governor did with her principal, in my case with Barack." No doubt, given McCain's now coined, "We will make them famous" stance on corrupt politicians, Palin would have to be very heavy handed with the Senate. No group wants to be reformed, and least of all Senators. Obama, or Biden as his surrogate, would face the same stonewalling.

Biden gave an equally alarming view of the Vice Presidency, or at least at his. Biden said, "I have a history of getting things done in the United States Senate. John McCain would acknowledge that. My record shows that on controversial issues. I would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the United States Congress for our administration." First of all, our administration. Obviously Biden was prepared for questions about Dick Cheney, and his stance that the Vice President is actually a member of the Legislative branch. I have to agree with Biden who calls this belief a, "...bizarre notion invented by Cheney," but will equally disagree when he asserts, "The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress." While this is technically correct, it is untrue. The Constitution, Palin points out correctly if unpopularly, is quite flexible in terms of what authority is vested in the Vice President. It is explicit that the VP only votes in the case of a tie, but also clearly designated the Vice President as the President of the Senate, and seems to imply a much greater presence by the vice-president than is common in modern practice.

Biden said something else that might have gone under most people's radar, but it stuck in my head, "I would also, when asked if I wanted a portfolio, my response was, no." What's this "portfolio" he mentioned then jumped away from it? Stock options? Do we really need to hear about his benefit package? A "portfolio" is democracy-speak for a ministry or a cabinet, the same way "territory" is democracy-speak for "colony." What he said was Obama asked him if he wanted his own cabinet and he said no. First of all, I doubt Obama would offer such a thing, and I even more doubt Biden would say no.

Biden very quickly moved on to what I have already mentioned as an upstaging of Obama, the most blatant one, where Biden said, "But Barack Obama indicated to me he wanted me with him to help him govern. So every major decision he'll be making, I'll be sitting in the room to give my best advice. He's president, not me, I'll give my best advice." I would bet it was an ad lib by Biden when he quickly inserted, "He's president, not me." Very few Vice Presidents have been "in the room" when any major decision has been made, and some have been openly barred from top-level cabinet meetings by express will of the President. The first vice-president to even have an office in the West Wing of the White House was Walter Mondale. The tradition of vice-presidents making depreciating comments about themselves, and their office itself is indicative of how active a role in governing the VP really has. Biden came out strong on the role of VP as an active Executive Branch officer, and I'd say equally as aggressive as Palin, only in a different direction. Or was it? Biden also seems to have indicated quite clearly that he would be the "point person" in Congress for legislation the administration has a vested interest in, and made a point to say he "gets things done in the Senate."

One of the callers I listened to on C-SPAN last night, endorsing a third party, called both Biden and Palin, "Neo-Conservative hacks," and while I'm not ready to give that harsh a judgment, they did both come on very strong in their own corners. While Dick Cheney's approach to the vice-presidency may be bizarrely off the mark, he may go down in history as the Vice President who defined the office. As soon as he cast the majority-granting vote to Republicans in 2001, he began a subversive campaign to take full control of government, again, drawing a good deal of the blame and criticism off Bush and onto himself, traditional VP style. But more importantly, he reopened the debate about just what the vice-president does, and what the true limits of the office are. The very nature of the current presidential campaign emphasizes the potential importance of the vice-president, and even the popular detraction to Cheney underscores the issue. I believe an unspoken issue in the campaign was touched on in this segment of the debate: both candidates are promising to clean up government, and that is going to include the Senate. And the Vice President is the Constitutionally appointed President of the Senate, and would be the President's voice therein, the advocate and referee of "change."