The vice president says the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending gains momentum.
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.
Biden, in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," said the nation's 9.5 percent unemployment rate is "much too high."
"The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there," Biden said.
"Wemisread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 daysinto the recovery package," Biden added. More jobs will be created incoming months, he said.
Biden noted that the$787 billion economic stimulus package was set up to spend the moneyover 18 months. Major programs will take effect in September, including$7.5 billion for broadband Internet service, plus new money forhigh-speed rail and the nation's electrical grid, he said.
Biden said it's premature to say whether the country will need a second stimulus package.
On other issues:
--Biden, asked whether the United States would put the lives of U.S.troops on the line should violence flare up again in Iraq, said "no."The U.S. still plans to withdraw all troops by 2011, Biden said. "Thatis the intention," he said. "We believe the Iraqis will be fullycapable of maintaining their own security."
-- Biden said if the Iraniangovernment seeks to engage in a dialogue with the United States, theU.S. will engage. "If the Iranians respond to the offer of engagement,we will engage," Biden said. "The offer's on the table."
--Biden said Israel has the right to pursue a different course of actionon Iran than the U.S. does. "Look, Israel can determine for itself --it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what theydecide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."
--On North Korea's Saturday launch of more missiles, he said "thequestion is, is there anything that we should do about it?"
"Look,this has almost become predictable behavior," Biden said. "Some of itseems like almost attention-seeking behavior." The U.S. shouldn't giveNorth Korea the attention, he said, adding that the U.S. policy hasbeen correct so far.
"Wehave succeeded in uniting the most important and critical countries toNorth Korea on a common path of further isolating North Korea," Bidensaid.
-- The Obama administration is "well on the way" toresolving a dispute between CIA Director Leon Panetta and NationalIntelligence Director Dennis Blair, Biden said. The conflict centers onBlair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassiesinstead of relying only on CIA station chiefs. "They both won," Bidensaid. He declined to give details, saying the resolution was not yetcomplete.
-- Biden saidhe respected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to step down. "It maybehad a lot to do with what the state of their life was, and the state oftheir family, et cetera," Biden said. "So I'm not going to second-guessher."
