Picture this: A sitting vice president, in the midst of his own run for president, dashing across Pennsylvania Avenue and bursting into the Senate to cast what is the deciding vote on make-or-break piece of legislation, saving the day for his party while C-SPAN cameras capture the entire event for posterity…and future campaign ads.
And for ‘Slow Joe’ Biden, such a scenario could very well become what would be, for the rest of us, a scary reality in the event of a deadlocked Senate after the midterm elections. Because if the Senate splits evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the vice president's role as the 101st senator would instantly be elevated.
And if, God forbid, that were to actually happen it would, in turn, likely raise ‘Slow Joe's’ own political profile heading into 2016, when he has already made in known that he may very well run for president again. It could even help him try to rival the rock-star status that many Democrats have already bestowed upon Hitlery Clinton.
According to Douglas Brinkley, who is, I’m told, a presidential historian at Rice University, "It makes Joe Biden suddenly a hugely relevant Washington figure." He went on to say, "It shows he's a power player." No offense to this supposed ‘presidential historian’, but as far as I’m concerned there is nothing in this world that could make Biden relevant.
Personally I’m of the opinion that it could end up making ‘Slow Joe’ the poster boy for messy political fights on Capitol Hill, replacing even ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid and also potentially alienating some voters along the way. Friends say he'd relish the chance to play kingmaker. No surprise there, this boob has an ego that rivals that of his boss.
‘Slow Joe’ is said to be a ‘creature’ of the Senate, having spent nearly 40 years there, and a high-profile return would allow him to show former colleagues that he's still in the game. But it wouldn’t be very good for the country to have such a hapless nitwit able to wield such political power. But what are the chances of it actually happening?
It's a definitely possibility, I suppose. Republicans need a net gain of five seats, but with Barry's unpopularity dragging his party down, Democrats are already bracing for even greater losses. Democrat hopes for averting a GOP majority rest in places like Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire and North Carolina.
Even if the Senate deadlocks, it wouldn't technically be a 50-50 split. That's because there are two independents. Both caucus with Democrats, so they're counted as Democrats in determining which party has the majority. There's a chance, though, that one of them could switch allegiances if the GOP wins the majority.
Further muddying the waters, two more ‘independents’ could win seats this year as well. In Kansas, Greg Orman has said he'd caucus with whichever party wins the majority, while in South Dakota, former Sen. Larry Pressler has been coy about his intentions. But we know that both of these ‘gentlemen’ are simply Democrats disguised as Independents.
And, thankfully, it’s not like ‘Slow Joe’ would be casting a vote on every bill. He would only be called upon on those rare occasions where a deadlock would require the vice president to weigh in. These days, parliamentary maneuvering has raised the threshold to pass almost anything to 60 votes, so the likelihood of ‘Slow Joe’ being called upon is pretty remote.
Still, an even balance of power could provide to ‘Slow Joe’ the chance to play deal-broker, boosting his credibility as a pragmatist who can work with both parties. But if he gets called in to swing the vote on a controversial Barry-backed policy, an immigration bill, for example, Republicans would likely use that vote against him on the campaign trail.
But look, let’s just all keep our fingers crossed and hope that when the dust finally settles we won’t be finding ourselves in the situation of having to depend on ‘Slow Joe’ to be the deciding vote. What we need to hoping for is a Republican majority of sufficient size to curb Barry’s continuing attempts to "fundamentally transform" this country.
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