Joe Biden becomes the 47th Vice President of the United States 

Biden became the 47th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2009, when he was inaugurated alongside President Barack Obama. He succeeded Dick Cheney. Biden is the first United States Vice President from Delaware and the first Roman Catholic to attain that office. Biden's oath of office was administered by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
As Biden headed to Delaware's Return Day tradition following the November 2008 election, and the transition process to an Obama administration began, Biden said he was in daily meetings with Obama and that McCain was still his friend. The U.S. Secret Service codename given to Biden is "Celtic", referencing his Irish roots.
Biden chose veteran Democratic lawyer and aide Ron Klain to be his vice-presidential chief of staff, and Time Washington bureau chief Jay Carney to be his director of communications. Biden intended to eliminate some of the explicit roles assumed by the vice presidency of Cheney. But otherwise, Biden said he would not model his vice presidency on any of the ones before him, but instead would seek to provide advice and counsel on every critical decision Obama would make. Biden said he had been closely involved in all the cabinet appointments that were made during the transition. Biden was also named to head the new White House Task Force on Working Families, an initiative aimed at improving the economic well-being of the middle class. As his last act as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden went on a trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan during the second week of January 2009, meeting with the leadership of those countries.
In the early months of the Obama administration, Biden assumed the role of an important behind-the-scenes counselor. The president compared Biden's efforts to a basketball player “who does a bunch of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet.” Biden played a key role in gaining Senate support for several major pieces of Obama legislation, and also was a ...

WASHINGTON — Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., a career senator whose foreign policy expertise, Washington savvy and sharp-witted style won Barack Obama’s supreme trust, became the 47th vice president of the United States on Tuesday.

The 66-year-old Delaware man, often long on words and never short of opinions, became the nation’s second-in-command on a day of profound change. He is now a heartbeat from the presidency, an influential counselor to President Obama, and one of the government’s main ambassadors to other global powers.

Joe Biden’s swearing-in moment was, fittingly, second billing to Obama’s. But the significance was not lost, and will soon be felt; Biden’s ascendancy ends the contentious and consequential eight-year run of perhaps the most powerful vice president ever, Dick Cheney, who saw the job differently than Biden does.

With the world watching, Biden raised his right hand and took his oath of office from Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens. In traditional form, Biden swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies and to faithfully discharge the duties of the office.

“So help me God,” Biden said to an outpouring of cheers from the Capitol platform and crowds below.

Biden shared a few thankful moments with his wife, Jill, and other members of his immediate family. He shared a handshake with Obama shortly before the nation’s new president was sworn in himself.

Both at the White House and at the Capitol, cameras captured gracious moments between Biden and Cheney, who put aside their well-known political differences in favor of grand American tradition.

At a ceremonial lunch in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, Biden told a gathering of officials from all three branches of government: “Together, there’s not a single, solitary thing we cannot achieve.”

At night, the Bidens were to hopscotch the city, attending inaugural balls into the wee hours.

The vice president’s prescribed role is to assume the presidency in the event of ...

Mr Biden took the oath in front of an estimated crowd of two million people and watched by Mr Obama.
The President-Elect, dressed in a dark suit, overcoat and red tie, looked relaxed as he waited to take his oath.

Obama supporters from across the United States braved icy temperatures as they poured into Washington to pack the National Mall, stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial.
In the biggest security operation the city has ever seen bridges were sealed off and thousands of armed police, soldiers and Secret Service agents patrolled the streets. Snipers were positioned on roof tops near the Capitol.
The 35-word presidential oath will be administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and has been uttered by every president since George Washington.
Mr Obama's inauguration as the first black US president represents a milestone once unthinkable in a nation that has struggled with racial issues since its founding, and where segregation was practised in many Southern states just decades ago.
He will take the oath on the same Bible used at the 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.
It has been a remarkable ascent for the 47-year-old Democrat who moves into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth youngest president, having persuaded Americans that he can turn around the economy and end the Iraq war.
He has raised the hopes of millions seeking a new course for the United States and promised to emphasise diplomacy, seek global solutions to climate change, reject torture and shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison.
The inauguration will be witnessed on television by a massive global audience and will usher in a new era of American politics.
In his much-anticipated inaugural speech Mr Obama is expected to urge American individuals and businesses to take responsibility for their actions.
He will say that a "me first" mentality has hurt the US and contributed to the economic crisis the country faces...