Obama's Reluctant Roastmaster

Vice President Biden's Chief Economic Advisor became a reluctant roastmaster on Fox and Friends this morning when he stepped into "Telepromptergate."

Here's the backstory, the Vice President was delivering the commencement address to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Wednesday when one of his teleprompter screens blew over. He took the opportunity to rib his boss, frequently chided for relying on teleprompters, as being at a loss without one, "What am I gonna tell the President when I tell him his teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?"

That kind of joking is all well and good between the president and vice president, but when Jared Bernstein, who advises the vice president on economic matters, was on on Fox Thursday morning he was not quite ready to play.

Bernstein was asked to go on Fox to answer serious questions about the economy and job losses when, after a series of such questions, he was suddenly, if playfully, blindsided, "Because you are the economic advisor to Joe Biden, did you happen to catch his speech at the Air Force Academy where he made that 'prompter' comment about President Obama?" asked Gretchen Carlson.

Bernstein "I did not catch the comment, so no."

The Friends continued. Brian Kilmeade told Bernstein the story then asked, "Is there some tension between the president and vice president?"

Bernstein held firm, "Absolutely not. But let me stress that my expertise-- to the extent that there's expertise here (laughing a little) -- mine is about the economy."

Finally, Steve Doocey took a crack, "So let me phrase it this way, is there money in the budget to buy a new teleprompter?" (laughter)

Bernstein: "I think we have all the teleprompters we need, but thanks for your concern."

And there it was! He may have been dragged kicking and screaming, but Jared Bernstein officially joined the club.