Joe Biden: The Tony Bennett of the Obama Administration, Says New York Times's Mark Leibovich

New York Times political profile reporter Mark Leibovich's front-page Biden profile on Tuesday , "For a Blunt Biden, an Uneasy Supporting Role," was not as uncritical as his previous profiles of Democratic politicians. But he certainly found a novel angle on the garrulous veep:

Mr. Biden is as easy a punch line as anyone is in Washington -- a perma-tanned and gaffe-prone goofy uncle type with a smile that appears practiced in front of a mirror. He makes for brilliant fake headlines in The Onion (“Shirtless Biden Washes Trans Am in White House Driveway”) and easy late-night comedy (when Michelle Obama told David Letterman how her dog, Bo, puts his paw on her leg and starts barking, the host interjected, “Is that what Biden does?”).

Mr. Biden exhibits a level of self-deprecation that friends say is healthy for his job. Young audiences are oddly drawn to him the way the MTV generation supposedly swooned for Tony Bennett. “I was kind of secretly hoping one of my kids would go out and make a million bucks,” the vice president joked at Howard University last month. Why? “So when they put me in a home, at least I’ll have a window with a view.”