(washingtontimes).There's no "I" in "team," but there is definitely one in "Biden."
With President Obama off on vacation, his second in two weeks, unofficial Acting President Joe Biden has stepped into the vacuum, claiming credit Thursday for the successes of the administration's $787 billion stimulus package and fielding questions on health care reform -- something his boss hasn't done in nearly two weeks.
The vice president, borrowing Mr. Obama's teleprompter for a speech before a friendly audience at the Brookings Institution, said "I" more than a dozen times as he pointed repeatedly to progress on the economy and to his lofty role in the process.
"Every week -- with notable exceptions -- I hold a Cabinet meeting. And most of the Cabinet secretaries attend," he told the audience in Washington.
"I made it clear that our focus had to be, in the first 100 days, accountability, transparency and responsiveness. I wanted each of those Cabinet secretaries to set up systems where they would have a high degree of confidence that as they implemented what they were in charge of, it would be done effectively and efficiently."
Mr. Biden said he had also talked to "every single governor except one, who's now a former governor." The crowd laughed, getting the reference to former Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. "By the way, it wasn't by design. She was going to be on a couple of times and couldn't for other reasons," he said defensively.
In a presidential-like declaration, Mr. Biden said the buck stops with him. "I take responsibility for mistakes that were made," he said at one point.
With President Obama off on vacation, his second in two weeks, unofficial Acting President Joe Biden has stepped into the vacuum, claiming credit Thursday for the successes of the administration's $787 billion stimulus package and fielding questions on health care reform -- something his boss hasn't done in nearly two weeks.
The vice president, borrowing Mr. Obama's teleprompter for a speech before a friendly audience at the Brookings Institution, said "I" more than a dozen times as he pointed repeatedly to progress on the economy and to his lofty role in the process.
"Every week -- with notable exceptions -- I hold a Cabinet meeting. And most of the Cabinet secretaries attend," he told the audience in Washington.
"I made it clear that our focus had to be, in the first 100 days, accountability, transparency and responsiveness. I wanted each of those Cabinet secretaries to set up systems where they would have a high degree of confidence that as they implemented what they were in charge of, it would be done effectively and efficiently."
Mr. Biden said he had also talked to "every single governor except one, who's now a former governor." The crowd laughed, getting the reference to former Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. "By the way, it wasn't by design. She was going to be on a couple of times and couldn't for other reasons," he said defensively.
In a presidential-like declaration, Mr. Biden said the buck stops with him. "I take responsibility for mistakes that were made," he said at one point.
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