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The American people expect the Vice President to be fully capable of taking over the presidency. They don't want a Throttlebottom in the job. But you can't make policy or propose new solutions—so what is left to talk about? Pretty soon you're sounding like the Administration cheerleader, and the public ridicule sets in. I became pretty disgusted, so I came up with a really innovative idea in a speech for creating a Marshall Plan for the cities. The public response was overwhelmingly favorable, but in the White House it was something else. The day of my speech, the Administration announced budget cuts in several urban programs.
You know, the operational budget for the Vice President does not come out of Executive Department funds. It's part of the congressional budget—you're literally paid as President Pro Tem of the Senate. That tells a great deal about the nature of the office, doesn't it?