Story of Joseph: Viziers and Vice Presidents
Throwback Thursday... way way back many centuries ago
There’s a lot going on in Veepspace right now. From a Veepology standpoint an important takeaway from SignalGate is that Vance is clearly in the decision-making mix. He was part of the group-chat and when Trump was considering firing National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vance was at least consulted. Trump has relented for the moment, but Waltz is clearly living on borrowed time. When you can’t defend your aides from wingnut Laura Loomer, you are only the boss in name only. (Vance was in that meeting as well.) Vance also showed the flag and rescued his wife from a diplomatic embarrassment by joining her trip to Greenland. He’s also playing the traditional VP role of preaching to the choir, defending the administration faithfully (he’s had plenty of things to say about how great tariffs will be.)
Vance has a pair of new jobs. He is in charge of working something out to keep Tik-Tok going by finding an American buyer before the deadline to do so runs out. That’s big and we’ll keep an eye out. On this too he’s partnering with Walz. It is a classic Trumpian move. If Vance succeeds, Trump can crow about saving Tik-Tok. If Vance fails, Trump can blame him. This is worth watching.
Vance has a much smaller gig too. He’s the administration’s point person in reforming the Smithsonian. I LOVE this. The VP is a statutory member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents. This was included in the 1846 legislation establishing the Smithsonian. In the nearly 180 years of this vice presidential role, I have only found a handful of references to it.1 If the vice presidency is, as Arthur Schlesinger wrote, a Constitutional appendix (i.e. a useless organ), the VP’s role at the Smithsonian is an appendix to the appendix. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, Vance does with this new tasking.
We’ll be watching all of this and more. But right now we are heading into Passover, the great story of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. The prequel to that story, if you will, is the story of Joseph who rises from prisoner to vizier. Naturally, I began to wonder how a vizier is like—and unlike—a vice president. This was originally posted on December 25, 2012.
I am afraid I have nothing to say about Christmas—not my thing, but I recognize it was a profound moment for all of mankind and for those for whom it is significant I wish them all good things.
Meanwhile, around the world Jews are reading the story of Joseph (not the father of Jesus – the earlier one.) Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. His brothers resented the favoritism and sold him into slavery (ah, those were the days…)
Joseph however had a knack for falling into manure and coming out smelling like a rose. In Egypt he got into some trouble, but through ability and foresight became head of the household of the captain of Pharoah’s guard. When he rejected the entreaties of his master’s wife, she had him imprisoned. Joseph quickly rose to become the superintendent of the prisoners. He also had a talent for interpreting dreams. This reached the ear of the Pharoah—who had been having troubling dreams. Joseph interpreted the Pharoah’s dreams and was appointed vizier. (One can easily see this tale reproduced—not as a musical, been done—but as an intrigue.)
Naturally I began to wonder, was Joseph a sort of proto-VP? (OK, I’m obsessed, but that’s what doing a PhD is, a kind of obsession.)
On most levels, absolutely not. Pharoah set Joseph above all but himself. But he did not make Joseph his heir. Joseph was still “help” or, as we would say it now, “staff.” Further, traditionally the vizier’s role was as Executive Officer. In effect, the XO makes sure the ship is running well, wherever the Captain wants to take it.
The U.S. Constitutional system does not really have space for a formal XO. In some ways the White House chief of staff fulfills that role. Sometimes there is a particularly prominent cabinet member (Jim Baker in the case of Bush Sr.) who plays the role of mayordomo. But vice presidents tend to shy away from this role, although in rare instances they will undertake efforts on the President’s behalf on particular issues in order to energize the bureaucracy.
Arguably Cheney, as Bush 43’s VP did take on this role. Cheney does not prove that the VP is inherently unsuited to this role—it is more accurate to say that many people were unhappy with his policies. On a gut, non-analytical level, I believe that having the VP appear to run day-to-day operations is deeply unpalatable to the American people. Also, the VP cannot be fired. If they fail as “vizier” the President is stuck.
But Joseph achieved his role through tremendous competence (everywhere he went he ended up being placed in charge), but also through dream interpretation. It is not a goofy “New Age” idea that dreams are often telling us something profound. Further, with a little elaboration, it is easy to imagine that Joseph is collecting intelligence about what’s going on that helps inform his interpretation. He was tracking palace intrigues as well as information from throughout Egypt. So when the dreams were described, Joseph was well-placed to understand the deeper anxieties provoking them.
Vice Presidents are not dream interpreters. The U.S. probably does not need a President going through a Jungian vision-quest. But, one can imagine a VP, with his own sources of information, helping a President see where he really wants to take the country on a given issue.
Maybe I’ll dig into this more. I have one report of LBJ meeting with the Regents to handle a problem at the zoo. Nelson Rockefeller, who helped establish the Museum of Modern Art, might have found this role of interest (although he liked to be the boss, not a board member.)