Joe Biden: I Chose Being Senator Over Having 'a Real Job

It's not uncommon for Vice President Joe Biden to unleash humorous gaffes. While much of last week's coverage surrounding the nation's second-in-command focused upon his call for a "global minimum tax," some of his other oddball comments flew under the radar. On Thursday evening, the prominent politician made some curious comments about not wanting "a real job."

According to press accounts, while praising Chicago's former Mayor Richard M. Daley and former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Biden told the audience, "I never had an interest in being a mayor 'cause that's a real job.  You have to produce. That's why I was able to be a senator for 36 years."

While these comments were potentially made with humor in mind, they are certainly intriguing. After all, Obama and Biden have incessantly promised results to the American people (i.e. they have promised "to produce").

The Huffington Post offers the full text of his quote:

"I never had an interest in being a mayor ‘cause that’s a real job. You have to produce. That’s why I was able to be a senator for 36 years. [Obama's] a little like my image of you, Richie. The one thing that always amazed me was the decisive moves you make. You just make the decisions ... I consider Billy Daley one of my closest friends in the world."

In this latter point, Biden praised Richard Daley for his calculation and compared Obama to the former mayor. While these are nice compliments, it's also worth noting, though, that Biden ran for president in both 1988 and 2008. Wouldn't this, too, require "decisive moves?" Didn't Biden -- at least based on his past campaign rhetoric -- also want "a real job" (unless he doesn't consider being the leader of the free world true deliverable employment)?

The Washington Examiner's Byron York describes Biden's career as follows:

Biden was elected to the Senate in November 1972, when he was 29 years old.  When he took office in January 1973, he had turned 30, the minimum age set in the Constitution for membership in the Senate.  Biden served in the Senate from that time until January 2009, when he became vice president.

In addition to his "real job" talk, the vice-president talked about Obama's re-election prospects and expressed some reservations about how world events could impact prospects this November.

"I don't think we'll be beaten by those candidates," Biden said. "I think we'll be beaten -- if we are -- by something happening in the Eurozone, or something happening in the Gulf, which could be difficult for us, or this barrage of Super PAC money.  But even with that, I feel good."

(H/T: Washington Examiner)