Joe Biden admits he's 'not comfortable with goofy Uncle Joe' persona

Joe Biden is not fond of his &quot;uncle&quot; persona.

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 19 April 2016

Vice President Joe Biden says the being perceived as "Goofy Uncle Joe" is exactly the reason he almost didn't take the VP job in the first place. "I'm not comfortable with Goofy Uncle Joe," Biden said in a recent interview with CNBC's John Harwood, commiserating with the long line of vice presidents before him who have gotten bad raps. "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."

Still, despite being painted as "Goofy Uncle Joe," Biden contends that he's been pretty successful — and relatively powerful — throughout his tenure. He says that Obama has heeded his condition that he be "the last guy in the room" and that for all of the assignments he's been given, he has "not had to check back." "I ran the Recovery Act — beginning, middle, and end," Biden said. "I did the Iraq thing."

And even if people want to keep thinking of him as "Goofy Uncle Joe," Biden points out that it hasn't exactly hurt his reputation so far. "And by the way, the so-called Goofy Uncle Joe — if you notice, I beat every Republican in every poll when they thought I was running," Biden said. "You notice that my favorability was higher than anybody that's running for office in either party."