What Obama should do with Biden

Now that he is president-elect, Barack Obama must start thinking about what to do with Joe Biden.
Vice presidents have had very different roles in recent decades, particularly as the power of the office increased.
During the past eight years, we have watched Dick Cheney expand the influence of the vice president into virtually the policymaker-in-chief with his unprecedented role in shaping the war on terrorism.
Obama will face a number of herculean challenges starting in January. One of them will be to effectively work with a Democratic Congress where there remain major tensions with the executive branch, as a result of President Bush's aggressive use of presidential power, and growing divisions among different factions of the Democratic Party.
With the responsibility of controlling united government in difficult economic times, conflicts are likely to flare among Democrats as legislators realize that failure could result in a backlash.
This is where Joe Biden should come into the picture. Along with Rahm Emanuel -- who will be Obama's chief of staff -- Biden should be used by Obama as a point man on Capitol Hill to help twist arms, make arguments and build voting coalitions.