 Like all politicians who egos dwarf their talents, he ascended the greasy pole by slavishly following his party wherever it led. In the 70s and 80s, Democrats were a party of post-Vietnam peacenik activists, so he followed them for that. And in the 90s, they were tough on crime, so he followed them on that. After 9-11, the party fell in behind George W. Bush, and of course, Biden was right there, too, leaning from the middle, backing the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq.