Politico.com
By CAROL E. LEE | 02/10/10 10:49 PM
Vice President Joe Biden said he expects more attempted terrorist attacks in the United States similar to the one on Christmas Day in which a passenger on a Detroit-bound airliner tried to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear.
Biden said in a taped interview airing Wednesday night that while he believes an attack on the scale of Sept. 11 is unlikely, he anticipates attempts at smaller “but devastatingly frightening attacks.”
“I think what you're seeing morphing here – and it's a concern to us – is you'll see the concern relates to somebody like a shoe bomber or the underpants bomber, the Christmas attack or someone just strapping a backpack on them with weapons that are indigenous and blowing up, you know, walking into in airport,” Biden told CNN’s Larry King. “I think there are going to be attempts.”
Biden also insisted that the Obama administration, which ordered a review of security and terrorism procedures after the Christmas Day incident, is prepared to deal with such attempts.
“I’ve been really impressed with the success we've had, building on the last administration, in dealing with these,” Biden said.
Biden said he is hopeful that the White House will get bipartisan support on a jobs bill that Congress is expected to send to complete work on in coming week. Yet while he was optimistic about its impact, he was skeptical that a jobs bill will not be enough to turn around the unemployment rate.
“I think now the jobs bill, I think, will be probably less than is needed initially, but it will be very helpful,” Biden said, adding that “by the spring, I think people are going to begin to have more confidence in the policies we've put in place.”
Biden more confidently pinpointed Iraq as potentially one of the administration’s big successes in 2010, while naming Pakistan above Afghanistan and Iran as the country that concerns him the most.
“I am very optimistic about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration,” Biden said. “You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.”
The White House has come under increased scrutiny lately from Republicans over its handling of national security issues. But Biden steered clear of pushing back against one of the administration’s most visible and fiercest critics, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Palin, who was mocked by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs during Tuesday’s daily briefing, said over the weekend that President Obama is unfit to be commander in chief and has “misguided thinking” on foreign policy issues.
“I like her,” Biden said of Palin. “She's an engaging person. She has a great personality. I don't agree with what she says and I think some of the things she says are not – well...”
“What were you going to say?” King prodded.
“Well, you know, it's sort of like – some of the comments made are just so far out there, I just don't know where they come from.”
But he doesn’t fear her politically, he said, noting that while she may have appeal beyond the Tea Party, her following is not “significant.”
“[M]y sense is that Sarah appeals – Governor Palin appeals to a group of people who are generally frustrated, feel disenfranchised, are very conservative – not all of them,” he said. “Tea Party people, but beyond that. She has appeal beyond that as well. But I don't know that it represents anything approaching a significant portion of the population.”
Biden offered his take on another GOP star: Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who he had recently sworn into office.
“I like him,” Biden said, using the same words he reserved for Palin.
But the vice president disputed Brown’s assertion moments after he was sworn in that the administration’s economic stimulus bill did not create one single job.
“Look, he's a new guy, he ran on two things: One that we're not handling the economy well and health care, and so I think that's part of the shtick,” Biden said. “I hope he doesn't really believe that.”
Biden’s assessment differs somewhat from White House aides such as Gibbs and senior advisor David Axelrod, who have insisted that Brown did not win the Massachusetts election by campaigning on health care, specifically against President Obama’s plan.
Biden further disputed Brown’s claim by saying that thousands of teachers still have their jobs and others gained employment because of the stimulus bill. Overall he said “everyone acknowledges that we created somewhere between 1.6 million and 2.4 million.”
“I don't know one single serious econometric model from the conservative to the liberals who acknowledge anything other than we created a minimum of 1.6 million [jobs],” Biden said, “no Republican or Democratic questions, that say we created or saved over 2 million jobs.”
Jobs is one area where Biden said he is hopeful for bipartisanship, as both Democrats and Republicans try to show their interest in working together amid voter anger over gridlock in Washington.
Referencing a meeting Obama convened at the White House Tuesday with Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, Biden said GOP leaders expressed support fixing the health care system and for no capital gains for taxes for small business.
“Do I think there's going to be the kind of bipartisanship I'm used to as all the years I served in the Senate? Not likely,” Biden said. “But I do think there will be some more movement because there's a dual message being sent out there. It's not just that people -- that Massachusetts election wasn't just about Democrats, it was about Washington is not working. And I don't think that Republican leadership is going to continue to include that the way they win is if the country loses.”
Biden went on to compare the dynamic in Washington to the Middle East, saying that like “everybody knows the outlines and the final settlement - it has to do with a two-state solution,” everybody knows “we have to change our energy policy, we have to change our education policy...”
