Barack Obama, Joe Biden | featured news

On the cusp of his second term, President Barack Obama solemnly honored the nation's fallen soldiers Sunday before taking the oath of office in an intimate White House ceremony, a swearing-in ritual he will repeat 24 hours later before a massive crowd at the Capitol.

Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the White House plans to act quickly to curb gun violence and will explore all avenues - including executive orders that would not require the approval of Congress - to try to prevent incidents like last month's massacre at a Connecticut school.

Speaking out for the first time since he resigned, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal takes the blame for a Rolling Stone article and the unflattering comments attributed to his staff about the Obama administration that ended his Afghanistan command and army career.

While vice-presidential debates typically don't have much bearing on the presidential contest, tomorrow night's Joe Biden-vs.-Paul Ryan showdown has put pressure on both sides. Team Obama NEEDS a strong performance from Biden to make up for last week and change the subject; another bad outing by a member of the ticket and the Democratic handwringing could turn into a full-fledged panic. Meanwhile, Team Romney needs a solid outing from Ryan to keep up the momentum. As we wrote last week, consider tomorrow night Game 2 of a baseball playoff series. After ace Romney beat ace Obama in Game 1, Democrats are looking for their No. 2 starter, Biden, to even the score. And Republicans are looking to go 2-0. That's what at stake Thursday, and that's why there's more pressure on Biden than on Ryan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden and Republican rival Paul Ryan sought votes in political battleground states on Saturday while their running mates took a day off the campaign trail ahead of a potentially make-or-break debate next week.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks to the DNC audience about how President Barack Obama handles adversity.

Vice President Joe Biden drew cheers from the nation's biggest civil rights group on Thursday with a fiery defense of President Barack Obama's record, and he warned that the election of Republican Mitt Romney could reverse years of economic and civil rights gains for blacks.

...Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday portrayed Romney as weak and waffling when it comes to foreign policy, an issue on which Democrats feel they have the advantage in the fall campaign... Biden also repeated what he has said should be the bumper sticker slogan for the Obama campaign: "Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."