Vice President Biden often gets labeled as a gaffe machine. But he's more like the Democrats' version of the Straight Talk Express.
Love him or leave him, the man speaks his mind.
The Obama administration this week was compelled, once again, to explain and defend the vice president after he made some tough comments about Russia.
Biden had suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Russia would have no choice but to cooperate with the United States because it is on the brink of sharp decline.
After a rebuke from the Kremlin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked back the remarks. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs still defended Biden as an "enormous asset" to the administration.
As the vice president lives up to his campaign trail persona by adding more foreign policy tasks to his portfolio, the administration can reasonably expect more "straight talk" on the world stage, which could continue to lead to a clash of styles with Clinton and President Obama.
The problem with Biden's commentary on the Russians, in which he called their economy "withering" and their banking sector collapsing, was not necessarily that it was off the mark. The problem was it was too true, analysts said.
"He is more right than not in terms of his geopolitical analysis," Peter Feaver, a Duke University professor and former National Security Council adviser, wrote on the Foreign Policy magazine Web site, calling Biden's interviews "among the most interesting ones out there." - FOX News Story
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