Friday, December 5th
6:30pm

Dear Diary,

Can’t believe this economy. Bush has left our country (and the rest of the world) a mess, and go figure – we have to clean up after him. I do think it was wrong of him and the economists not to announce that we entered the recession last December. It wasn’t fair to the people to not inform them that they were about to hit hard times, since they could have at least planned for it. Regardless, I feel that it’s my responsibility to help do something about it.

So, I’ve decided to help Barack with his Economic Recovery Plan by creating a new position within my office: Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor. I’ve named Jared Bernstein to fill this position for many reasons. He’s worked with a variety of domestic and international economic policies, and he’s dedicated to helping middle class families. Finally, for the first time in eight long years, we’ll have people in the White House who are committed to helping the middle class.

And I’m on the forefront of the action. I realized that Barack is probably never going to make a speech addressing my duties, so I’m taking this on myself. I’m going to define my own office and exactly what I’m going to do as Vice President. And while I won’t be a Dick Cheney, I’m certainly going to shake things up and bring the change we need to turn this country around. Whew, this diary entry sounds like a campaign speech. But I’m feeling really good about having Bernstein on my team, and I think he can help Barack and myself to turn around this recession.

Until next time,
Joe the Veep