After Jabs at Cheney, Biden Pursues an Activist Role

Vice President Follows Initial Gaffes by Diving Into Wide Range of Issues; Drawing Contrasts With Predecessor

MONICA LANGLEY

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden, in a bid to become an influential second-in-command, is striving to carve out meaty roles for himself quickly.

In an East Room ceremony on Friday with President Barack Obama, Mr. Biden is launching a task force to work on social and economic policies aimed at helping the struggling middle class. He's selling the giant stimulus package on Capitol Hill, and schmoozing his former colleagues during workouts in the congressional gym. Next week, Mr. Biden heads to Munich for an international security conference, in a bid to repair relations with European countries.

Bloomberg News /Landov

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton attend a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday.

The flurry of activity follows a first week marked by gaffes. At a swearing-in ceremony of White House staff, Mr. Biden joked about Chief Justice John Roberts's faulty memory, provoking President Obama to give him a stern nudge to stop. During the taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" the day before the inauguration, his wife, Jill Biden, said her husband was given the choice of being vice president or secretary of state, which was quickly refuted by the White House.

Before taking office, Mr. Biden pointedly disavowed the enlarged role of Dick Cheney, whom he called "one of the most dangerous vice presidents" in American history. Some Democratic operatives speculated that his remarks diminished the vice presidency.

Obama officials play down Mr. Biden's missteps. Obama senior adviser David Axelrod says Mr. Biden's input in recent weeks shows his value "peer-to-peer" with President Obama. "All of the vice president's insight and experience dwarf any minor gaffe or misstep," Mr. Axelrod says.

Moreover, some of Mr. Biden's former colleagues and aides say he's simply making the inevitable adjustment to a very different role. Mr. Biden is having to learn "the difference between being a senator and vice president," says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), "even though he says he's never had a boss before."

Still, Mr. Biden's determination to be involved in a range of issues, instead of a couple specific projects, is a gamble, some administration officials say. "In his desire to be part of everything, Biden risks looking like he wants to be co-president, and then could end up with nothing on which to make his own mark," says one Democratic adviser.

Mr. Biden's spokesman says, "The vice president sees his job as counselor-in-chief. He doesn't want to be limited to a portfolio, but will take specific tasks with specific goals like the middle-class task force."

Mr. Biden's ambition to play an influential role could be constrained by a White House and cabinet filled with high-octane personalities, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as other advisers with longstanding close personal ties to the president.

Already, Mr. Biden is moderating his gregarious style, Mr. Axelrod says. "The room is filled with highflying big thinkers," Mr. Axelrod says. The vice president "picks his spots. He hasn't tried to dominate discussions. Joe Biden brings what there's no substitute for -- wisdom based on worlds of experience."

Mr. Biden's team is positioning the vice president to play up his differences with Mr. Cheney. For example, Mr. Biden's new task force on middle-class families will have a Web site complete with details of all meetings, attendees and policies, in contrast to Mr. Cheney's energy task force, which he fought to keep secret in court. Mr. Biden's office is releasing daily the vice president's schedule, unlike Mr. Cheney, who often didn't disclose his schedule.

Even the vice president's residence at the Observatory Circle here can now be viewed on Google maps. When Mr. Cheney resided there, the materials had been pixilated in order to blur the home's location.

"Vice President Biden will be more transparent, accessible, bipartisan and focused on middle-class values than Dick Cheney," says a senior administration official. "That doesn't mean he'll be less powerful."

When President Obama asked Mr. Biden to be his running mate last summer, the longtime Delaware senator asked for -- and received -- a commitment that he would be "the last person in the room" when big decisions were made, advisers to both men say. During the campaign, Messrs. Obama and Biden traveled separately, preventing the kind of early camaraderie that developed between Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who went on days-long bus trips together, a campaign operative says.

But their rapport is increasing as they spend more time together, some aides say. During the transition, Mr. Biden prepared a slate of candidates for cabinet posts for Mr. Obama's consideration. "Joe's list was very similar to Obama's own list," says Mark Gitenstein, who headed the vice-presidential transition. Aides say Mr. Biden's list suggested Mrs. Clinton for chief diplomat. "Joe loves Hillary like a sister and backed her completely [with President Obama] for secretary of state," a Biden adviser says.

Mr. Biden attends the daily national-security and economic briefings with the president. He receives the same reports that go to President Obama, and his staff is included in White House senior staff meetings, aides say. Last Friday, the two men had a private lunch at the White House, which is set to become a weekly chat, without any advisers.

The vice president is also helping Mr. Obama's advisers, several of whom are new to congressional politics. At a meeting on Wednesday to hammer out the new budget proposal, Mr. Biden gave a "visceral sense" of what can get passed in Congress, when presented with a "whole array of hard decisions," one participant said.

Mr. Biden is putting his 36 years of experience as a senator to use with former colleagues. Before the economic-stimulus package was finished, he sought out key lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to solicit what they would need to support the bill. After Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe gave Mr. Biden several ideas, particularly on small-business benefits, they exchanged materials over the last week. The vice president gave Sen. Snowe his home phone numbers to continue the dialogue.