Should he decide to seek the White House in 2016, Vice President Joseph R. Biden won’t be following Sen. Bernard Sanders’ political playbook.
In a speech at the White House Monday, Mr. Biden made clear he has no issues with the rich and powerful in America, stressing that they’re “not a problem.”
His words come in stark contrast to those of Mr. Sanders, who still trails Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the polls but has made significant strides in recent months behind a passionate anti-Wall Street, anti-corporate message.
Mr. Biden made his comments when discussing federal tax breaks for oil-and-gas companies. He said those tax breaks once made sense but today should be eliminated.
The money saved, he said, should be funneled to renewable energy investment or deficit reduction.
“What are we doing? What are we doing?” Mr. Biden said at a White House climate-change summit. “By the way, I’m not one of these guys, you know, ’Let’s go after the rich and the powerful, they’re the problem’ — they’re not a problem. But everybody has to do their part, man. There has to be some rationality to this process.”
Mr. Biden reportedly will make a decision this week whether to run for president.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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