Let's put 'em to work

We hate to be nabobs of negativity, but what in the world has the Vice President of these United States done for us lately?

Not just Joe Biden, but Dick Cheney before him? Or Al Gore and Dan Quayle for that matter.  (Al did invent the internet, but apparently the thought of iPads never occurred to him at the time.  How forward thinking was that?)

Veeps, for the most part, are sheets.  We have to go all the way back to the office of Calvin Coolidge (1925-29) to find a Vice President who really made a difference.  That would be understudy Charles Gates Dawes, a banker from Chicago who used to play a flute and write sheet music before duty called him to the White House. 

Dawes is the only V.P. to write a No. 1 song.  You probably don't know "Melody in A Major" by that name because it wasn't until songwriter Carl Sigman added the wonderful lyrics and title that a hit was born, and that was long after Dawes' time.

You'll remember the 1958 standard by Tommy Edwards as "It's All in the Game," a song that has been covered by dozens of artists from Andy Williams to Merle Haggard.  We're especially fond of Van Morrison's version here at the Sanctuary but decided to tempt you today with the "original" by Edwards. (Proceeds of .00001 U.S. cents per download will be channeled into the Sanctuary Gives Back fund.)

Now can you tell us what the hell Joe Biden is up to?