While his madcap persona as everyone’s ‘goofy uncle’ has made him beloved in some circles, Vice President Joe Biden said he’s never been comfortable with the trope, and it almost stopped him from accepting the role in Obama’s White House.
“I’m not comfortable with Goofy Uncle Joe,” Biden told CNBC’s John Harwood, in an interview published Tuesday. “But one of the things that’s important to know – and one of the reasons why, when I first got asked about this job I said no – is there is no inherent power in being vice president.”
Biden also said “the so-called Goofy Uncle Joe” beat “every Republican in every poll” when political watchers thought he was getting ready to launch a third run for the White House.
“You notice that my favorability was higher than anybody that’s running for office in either party,” he said in the interview, which took place aboard a Washington-to-Wilmington, Delaware Amtrak train.
Looking back on his time in the Obama administration, Biden said they “had about eight atom bombs dropped on our desk,” with auto industry recovery and Dodd-Frank among them.
Watch a clip about Biden’s remarks via CNBC:
