About a month ago, we here at Urbanesse pondered what our incoming Veep Joe Biden would be doing while he was in office. We figured he’d focus heavily in at least one of four areas:

• Labor/ worker’s rights
• Drugs
• The elderly
• Foreign Affairs

Looks like we hit the nail on the head: Joe Biden told CNN that he will head up the White House Task Force on Working Families. He’ll head up a task force, which also includes the secretaries of Labor, Health & Human Services, and Commerce, as well as the directors of the National Economic Council, the Office of Management & Budget, the Domestic Policy Counsel, and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.

The whole point of the committee, and Biden’s chairmanship, will be to grow and strengthen the middle class, extend college affordability programs and other yay-money-for-average-people stuff. According to CNN:

Obama has set up several key goals for the task force, including: Expanding education and training; improving work and family balance; a focus on labor standards, including workplace safety; protecting working-family incomes and retirement security.

So what power will the new task force have in shaping policy? According to the transition team, Biden and other members “will expedite administrative reforms, propose Executive orders, and develop legislative and public policy proposals that can be of special importance to working families.”

“My administration will be absolutely committed to the future of America’s middle-class and working families. They will be front and center every day in our work in the White House,” said Obama in a statement. “And this Task Force will be one vehicle we will use to ensure that we never forget that commitment.”

That’s pretty rad. I hope this is all intertwined with the plans to expand health care, create green jobs, launch Obama’s volunteer corps, expand women’s rights in the workplace, child care,  and all the other wonderful things that the president-elect promised us.

photo by BohPhoto

As Barack Obama is outlining his cabinet, and team of advisers, I am here wondering what Joe Biden will be doing in the upcoming administration. Perhaps his strongest credential to me was his years on the senate foreign relations committee — it was the main reason why I thought he should be vice president. However, with Hillary Clinton taking the post as Secretary of State, will he really be able to take that on as his big cause of the administration? George H.W. Bush fought drug abuse and called for financial deregulation; Al Gore had the environment and technology; Dick Cheney had defense, and general tomfoolery.

It makes me wonder, What Will Biden Do? Here’s a few issues (aside from the foreign stuff) that he might be privy to:

• Biden used to be the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he passed the Biden Crime Bill, putting more cops on the streets and upping federal support for law enforcement; he proposed the White House install a “Drug Czar;” and, one of his more prominent bills, the Violence Against Women Act.
• He seems to be fairly involved with worker’s rights, and labor. He’s a proponent of OSHA, the Family Medical Leave Act, the expansion of Head Start, wage regulations, and curtailing exporting jobs overseas.
• Biden’s getting up there in age, so he might find working on elder’s rights and the expansion of medical care.
• Perhaps Biden would concentrate his knowledge of defense and foreign affairs to focus on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The way he has been talking about both wars has seemed pretty smart to me.

The Secret Service likes to give nicknames to those it protects; it used to be a big deal when radio frequencies could somewhat easily be interfered with, but now, thanks to a little thing called technology, it’s not that serious. Buuuut, the nicknames are cute and revealing all at the same time.

Photo by Bobster1985

President-elect Obama: Renegade | Michelle Obama: Renaissance
Malia Obama: Radiance | Sasha Obama: Rosebud

Photo by BohPhoto

Vice President-elect Joe Biden: Celtic | Jill Biden: Capri

Beau

Beau Biden, Deleware’s attorney general and son of Vice President-elect Joe Biden is heading off to Iraq this month for a tour as a reservist for the Army National Guard. Here’s what Joe said to Junior’s brigade earlier:

“I’ve come here many times before as a Delawarean, as a United States senator,” he said, according to CNN. “But today I come, as you prepare to deploy, as a father — a father who had some sage advice from his son this morning: ‘Dad, keep it short, we’re in formation.’ … My heart is full of love and pride. … You are the best demonstration of both our nation’s greatness and … our people’s goodness. … Let me simply say, thank you, thank you for answering the call of your country. … So stay strong, stand together, serve honorably … may God bless you and may he protect you.”

While I will miss his hunkiness here in the U.S., it’s rumored that he could replace Papa Biden as the U.S. Senator when he returns. The governor of Delaware will have to choose Biden’s replacement for 2009-2010, but there will be a campaign for a full senate term in 2010, when Beau would have returned, hopefully safe and sound.