White House Peace Reigns Despite Woes

The nation's fraught mood hasn't translated into friction at the White House, writes David Brooks. President Obama and Joe Biden's working relationship got off to a rocky start but it's now remarkably smooth. Biden isn't the butt of jokes in the White House like he is on late-night TV. He's been tasked with taking the lead on Iraq policy, overseeing stimulus spending, and coming up with an agenda for the middle class, Brooks notes in the New York Times.

The Obama-Biden relationship is part of the tranquil atmosphere that prevails at the White House, where there are no open recrimination campaigns despite the setbacks the president's agenda has suffered, Brooks notes. "Whatever their relations with the country might be, inside they seem unruffled," Brooks writes. "The bonds of association, from the top down, seem healthy—especially for a bunch of Democrats." (More White House stories.)