Bumbling Joe

"When he rises to speak, he does not know what he will say. As he speaks, he does not know what he is saying. When he sits down again, he does not know what he has said."

That old House of Commons joke about a certain kind of garrulous parliamentarian applies to America's own Joe Biden.

CNN broadcasted an interview with Joe Biden on Sunday in which he indulged in speculation about his 2016 chances:

Vice President Joe Biden left the door open to running for president in 2016 - he said he'd "make up my mind on that later" - and suggested he was physically and mentally prepared for the challenge.

"I'm in one of the -- probably the best shape I've been in my life," said Biden. "I'm doing pretty well. I'm enjoying what I'm doing. And as long as I do, I'm going to continue to do it."

If you watch the interview, you see that Biden didn't really intend to talk 2016. Mostly he wanted to rebuff an insinuation that he was maybe getting too old for politics. Having started talking, however, he could not stop himself - and he ended up creating a story unhelpful to him and to his administration.

As problems go, it's not the biggest in the world, certainly not as big as other problems that Biden has created with careless talk - about , about not criticizing forced abortion in China, etc.

But if we're already thinking about the Democratic succession, here's a question: why is Joe Biden even allowed to remain on the 2012 ticket? Wouldn't President Obama do himself, his party, and the country some good by replacing Biden with a candidate who could be credible in 2016?