Did Joe Biden nap during Obama's deficit speech?

Vice President Joe Biden looking overly restful during Obama&#039;s speech Wednesday on the national deficit.

(Image credit: YouTube)

last updated 8 January 2015

The video: During President Obama's big speech on reducing our ballooning national deficits, Vice President Joe Biden was caught on camera with his eyes closed for nearly half a minute. Was he nodding off while the president expounded on the challenges of Medicare? Or was Biden just "deep in thought"? (View a clip below to judge for yourself.)

The reaction: He was dozing, and I can see why, says Jonathon Seidl at The Blaze. Obama was late, spoke for almost an hour, and "trumpeted an old argument (raise taxes on the 'rich') for a new budget battle." Still, while I didn't find the speech particularly riveting, at least I stayed awake. Look, says Bonnie Malkin in The Telegraph, if Biden did nod off, he's in good company. His predecessor, Dick Cheney, appeared to catch a few Z's during George W. Bush's farewell speech, and the cameras caught Bill Clinton sleeping at some pretty inopportune times. C'mon, "we should give Biden the benefit of the doubt," says Shawna Shepherd at CNN. Even if he was dozing, there's no shame in "closing his eyes for 25 seconds during a 44-minute speech." Watch Biden check out: