Eric Cantor Describes Joe Biden as "Awesome"
Summer 2020 - With Joe Biden about to become the Democratic Presidential nominee and with polls showing him ahead of Donald Trump in many key states across the country, we thought it appropriate to dust off an article we wrote a few years ago when Barack Obama and Mr. Biden still were heading up the Executive Branch of our federal government.
In it, we quoted from an interview that former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) had participated in, one in which he was very complimentary toward then Vice-President Biden.
Mr. Cantor's comments were consistent with how we always have viewed Mr. Biden: competent, tough, committed, yet personable. And, most importantly, able to work with all parties to get things done. Those characteristics are a big part of the reason why Mr. Biden was one of our favorite candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2020. After reading Mr. Cantor's comments, we hope you'll feel the same way as well.
Summer 2015 - Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor recently sat down for an interview with Time.com and discussed his relationship with Vice President Joe Biden. Throughout his career, Eric Cantor always came across to us as one of Washington's most overtly ambitious and partisan politicians. Which is saying a lot for an elected official in our nation's capital! A popular joke in DC was that, if Speaker of the House John Boehner ever became the victim of foul play, Mr. Cantor would have been first on the list of suspects!
It always was difficult to guess just how far to the right Congressman Cantor would come down on an issue. He constantly seemed to be jumping between the Tea Party wing of his party and that of the more mainstream conservative wing, seemingly in an attempt to convince both constituencies he was on their side. And sometimes he would do it on the same issue! Rumor has it that after being part of Speaker Boehner's budget negotiating team for the 2011 "grand bargain" between the Speaker and the President, Congressman Cantor helped kill the deal by siding with the Tea Partiers who were against it.
All of which made it surprising to read Mr. Cantor's bottom-line characterization of Vice President Biden as "awesome". Paraphrasing Mr. Cantor, he said in his experience, Mr. Biden was a straight-shooter, who understood where all parties were coming from and who's goal was to help forge a consensus and get a deal done.
Which is consistent with how we view the Vice President as well. We've been following Joe Biden for years and know that he's smart, tough but personable, and good at how the game is played in Washington. He could be and should be a big player in the coming months as the White House and Congress work to pass meaningful legislation before the next elections.
What follows are some of the comments that Mr. Cantor made during his interview:
"Unquestionably, the Vice President knows how to negotiate. He understands people. …if you're interested in doing deals, and getting a result, what I think what one needs to do is be able to size people up. And this is what Joe Biden has always been about in my experience. He is able to size up where the opposition is. He's firmly rooted in his direction, what he needs to accomplish in the negotiations, and then understands how far you can push and not lose a result or a deal."
"As you recall, the Speaker had asked me to serve on the Biden commission. The President had basically formed it and put the Vice President in charge. And there were a handful of us in the room for seven weeks almost, three days a week, two and a half hours a day. And the Vice president was the only one, and that commission was the only entity that really came up with a list of spending reductions that both sides could agree to."
"But if you look at what has transpired since then, the Super Committee, the fiscal cliff, Murray-Ryan, all of that, the work that came out of Joe Biden's commission is the common theme. And I believe that is attributable to his negotiating skills and ability to cut through-to set aside what you don't agree on and try to come to a result."
"Joe Biden has a real sensitivity, not only to human reaction, but also partisan and political sensitivities. He understands how far you can push before you just blow up the prospects for a deal."
"But I do… stay in touch with [Biden]. He stays in touch with people. Part of the ability to do deals is to know both sides and to understand their thought process and their political priorities and imperatives."
"I'm certainly not one who agrees with Joe Biden on all things-we probably disagree more than we agree-but from a human and relationship standpoint, the guy's awesome."
 (image from canyon-news.com)
During the interview, Mr. Cantor got in his digs at President Obama, so it's possible his praise of the Vice President was at least in part an attempt to come across as being more objective. But he didn't have to be so effusive in his praise if that was his only motivation. Regardless, it was refreshing to hear one of the far right's leaders actually say something good about a Democrat.
It's too bad Mr. Cantor never made these kind of statements while he was Majority Leader. If we could hear comments like this from a GOP leader while still in office, we would be more optimistic that the GOP-led House could make progress on addressing some of the issues facing the country. But if the GOP's strategy continues to be driven by a few Tea Party billionaires and right wing talk show hosts, the point of which either is to a) take the country in a direction no one else wants to go or b) get nothing done and then try to blame the President for the lack of progress, then moving forward on any bi-partisan solutions doesn't seem likely.
We won't give up hope, though.
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