Joe Biden update: Working from home again today

A little change of pace today for the second most important vice president in American history this year.

After a weekend of no public appearances at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Vice President Joe Biden will spend a workday of no public appearances in the same place.

According to his official White House schedule, at precisely 1 p.m. today Eastern time Biden will lead a transcontinental conference call "with mayors from across the country to discuss implementation" of the Obama Spends a Gazillion Dollars to Create and/or Save Thousands of Jobs Maybe More But the Unemployment Rate Is Still 10 Percent Act, sometimes called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Biden has been kind of in charge of that while the multi-tasking president was wheeling his beloved healthcare bill into intensive care and commuting to Scandinavia this fall.

Because Obama promised his would be the most transparent White House administration in history, Biden's mayoral conference call is closed to everyone except the unidentified mayors, including especially those in the annoying, unelected media.

Following the phone call that could consume 25 maybe 30 of the VP's monthly minutes, "The Vice President will spend the remainder of the day meeting with senior staff."

They've no doubt simply packed into Wilmington, despite the federal government's snow day. Or maybe Biden has a home bunker for video-conferencing.

We won't really know because, like the rest of Biden's officially opaque workday, those meetings with unnamed people on unspecified subjects for unannounced durations are closed to any outsiders, too.

Remember how unacceptably secretive bordering on evil that was when Dick "The Most Dangerous VP in American History" Cheney used to do the very same thing?

Also, in case you were in your own closed senior staff meetings yesterday at a shopping mall or in front of a televised football game, you should know that for the second time in five months Biden published an op-ed article for a non-tabloid New York newspaper with a similar name to one in Los Angeles.

The Democratic vice president came out four-square in favor of the Democratic president's healthcare legislation.

Biden even went so far as to say that if he was still a senator -- which he was, you know, from the time Obama was a sixth grader until weeks after the ex-youngster was elected president -- Biden would, in fact, vote to pass the Reid-written measure. 

That's how for-it Joe Biden is.

(UPDATE: 2:14 p.m. Well, maybe that phone call didn't last 30 minutes after all. This afternoon the White House released this complete list of all the mayors who participated in the conference chat with JB: Chris Coleman of St. Paul, Michael Moncrief of Ft. Worth, Joseph Riley of Charleston and A.C. Wharton Jr. of Memphis.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of taking time off, pause in your day's work to click here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. We're also over here on Facebook, though the list is fast filling up. And our new Facebook fan page is here.

In case you've forgotten what JB looks like, here's a 2008 video of one of his appearances in Florida where the campaign volunteer confused the Delaware senator with the Arizona senator. All those old Republicans look alike anyway.

Photo: Joshua Roberts / Bloomberg

Comments

[Cory]

This article is a waste of time for any reader. Bloggers of the LA Times should add value. I really don't know who the target market is for this worthless rant.

[Shari F Ouillette]

I'm sure there must be a point to this "commentary"......but I've missed it. Is the author "working from home" as well?

(Of course. But alas not for the dough he's making. Nor the health coverage either.)

[LPB]

Man, oh man. This reads like a comedy skit; unfortunately it's true.

[Norm]

I just read your editorial Andrew and have know idea what you were trying to say.

[mwells]

Maybe he's just drunk as usual.

[Dan Beliveau]

I hope the vice president and his family have a wonderful winter solstice.
2nd most important, wow. I hope that was a joke. To all those who still
celebrate; Merry Christmas, God Bless

[West Valley Dave]

Uncle Joe is the worst VP we've ever had... with the exception of Aaron Burr. He does nothing, opens that vacuous cavern he calls a mouth when he shouldn't and says things that are either not true or so off the wall he gets laughed at. He's always just been a yes man for the liberal socialist agenda and has become just another empty suit in Washington just like his boss.

[Justin Gnarl]

This article reads like a comment on Digg. So snarky. It's not funny, it's just obnoxious.

[gerrrg]

I'm not entirely sure that Dick's secret meetings with energy execs to create a flawed energy policy can be equated to Joe's secret meetings with Mayors. But I suppose if tomorrow the White House came out with a Mayoral takeover of the Governors policy, we should demand that the White House come out and give us transcripts to their super-secret meeting.

(Hmm. If Cheney's meetings were really so secret, how do you know what happened in them?)

[Ronnie Rayguns]

Reshlublican styled haters. Dog love 'em.

[Jeronimo Dan]

Do you really think the bunch in the White House, are going to give us transcripts of what was said, or happen.

It's not going to happen, this is not a open society, no transparency...

[Ezra Kacalovitch]

Why didn't Obama send the bum to that ayatohlas funeral in Iran today ?I guess Biden felt he would look inferior to Amahdinejad,plus Biden just
cant keep that hole under his nose shut for more than 30 seconds.

[Bart H]

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To Republicans: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[Matthew]

Wilmington, Delaware did get just over 16" of snow the guy must be stuck!!

[We take no prisoners and eat the wounded]

The pres and the VP come accross as an incestuous team.Their crypto-marxist thinking only produces far left utopian government programs.
Obama should dump baldy Biden and replace him with Joe Lieberman in
order to be more connected with 21 st century realitys.