Deploying Joe B.

Let’s not overlook who is doing the dirty work here, and
getting it done. President Obama is sending Vice President Biden into
the trenches to try and sell the tax-cut deal to angry
Democrats. Tuesday he got a lashing from Senate Democrats over the plan
and Wednesday night he faced two hours of loud opposition from
House Democrats.

And Biden wasn’t even allowed to throw in some goodies
to bring it over the finish line: “This is the deal. Take it or leave
it,” was what Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) reported Biden saying at the
House meeting, according to The Washington Post.

It turns out it was Biden who crafted the tax deal
directly with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over several
days and through last weekend to couple across-the-board extensions of tax cuts for
all levels with an extension of unemployment insurance, a payroll tax
holiday, a reduction of Social Security taxes and other tax relief in a
compromise plan.

The New York Times account of
the negotiations is interesting because it shows how much Obama relied upon
Biden’s long history in the Senate, and close relationships across the aisle — neither
of which Obama has himself. But the account also reveals not only how Biden
worked the deal out privately with McConnell but how Obama turned on Democrats
after meeting with them at the White House on Nov. 18, in a meeting
that “persuaded him the Democrats were not unified behind a realistic
plan for moving forward.” He didn’t want to pick a fight on taxes the way
his fellow Democrats did, so he secretly dispatched Biden to reach across the
aisle.

The fight Obama chose to pick with Democrats instead of
Republicans tells us a lot about his plans for rehabilitating his presidency
and trying to win a second term, which I wrote about in my column this week. But the use of Biden also says a lot about how
much more useful he is, particularly now that Rahm Emanuel is gone, to Obama as
he tries to negotiate with both parties on Capitol Hill instead of one.

It would be hard to imagine those rumors about Biden being
asked to step aside and allow Hillary Clinton to run as vice president in 2012
are true.

WILL TEA PARTY FRESHMEN OPPOSE THE TAX DEAL LIKE DEMINT
& PALIN? Ask A.B. returns Wednesday, Dec. 15. Please join my weekly
video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com.
Thank you.