# Will Biden move into Number One Observatory Circle? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735 "2008-11-07T23:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/1 "2008-11-07T23:00:06Z")
Will Joe Biden move to DC and live in his official residence, Number One Observatory Circle, like every Vice-President since Mondale? Or is he going to continue to commute from his private home in Deleware? His kids have all flown the nest, but isn’t his wife head of a community college in Deleware. There’s no way the Secret Service will let him keep riding the train with the general public. He could just fly Marine Two back and forth, but he’d catch flak for wasting taxpayer money. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/2 "2008-11-07T23:49:10Z")
I thought Rockefeller was the first Veep to live there. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/3 "2008-11-08T00:20:05Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > I thought Rockefeller was the first Veep to live there. Although Number One Observatory Circle was available to the Vice President in 1974, three years passed before a Vice President lived in the home. Vice President Ford became President Ford before he could use the home, and his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, only used the home for entertaining. Vice President Mondale was the first Vice President to move into the home. It has since been home to the Bushes, the Quayles and the Gores. [quote] From [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/life/vpresidence.html](http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/life/vpresidence.html) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/4 "2008-11-08T00:59:48Z")
Oddly, Rocky and Happy commissioned and donated a bed for the residence, but it has never been used. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/5 "2008-11-08T13:26:37Z")
Delaware is Senator Biden’s constituency. The US will be Vice President Biden’s constituency. The main symbolic purpose of the train ride home will be gone. OTOH, if he doesn’t pull a Cheney and start running the country, he can basically stay in Delaware almost all the time, leaving for the occasional funeral. (Not much chance of a tie vote in the new Senate.) ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/6 "2008-11-08T16:08:39Z")
Although I have no doubt that Biden will keep his Delaware home, I also have no doubt he’ll move into the Naval Observatory house. A senator, even a senior one, can pretty easily just hop on a train from Washington to Wilmington; the Vice President, not so much. Unless there is some specific threat or other reason, a senator doesn’t have a security squad, while the Vice President most assuredly does. The VP also needs to have instant access to secure communication, a small swarm of advisors, the backup nuclear football nearby, and god knows what else. Also, the VP will probably need to spend a lot more time in the White House then a Senator would need to spend in Senate office. My question is whether Biden will continue to teach his law seminar at the University of Delaware. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/7 "2008-11-08T16:24:47Z")
Is it just me, or does anybody else find it amusing that the residence of the Vice-President is named after navel-gazing? I know, I know… _Naval_ not navel. Still funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/8 "2008-11-09T00:31:52Z")
Is Tipper still locked in the basement ? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/9 "2008-11-09T01:14:21Z")
Biden could continue to live in Deleware and commute. Perhaps he could be driven in an official car; the escort and security would certainly be less costly than a daily flight in Marine 2. My impression is that he’s spent 30 years avoiding having to live in DC, and would like to continue to do so. Or–and this would be a fun idea–why not have a private railcar designed to look like any ordinary passenger car? IIRC most of his route is along the NEC, so there must be enough scheduled trains during the day that a private car could be hitched up whenever. Not surprisingly, he’s a big supporter of Amtrak and this could mean some good publicity for them. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/10 "2008-11-09T01:25:57Z")
My question – will the Naval Observatory be depixilated on Google Earth now? (Y’know, I can almost buy that GWB is just a dupe. It’s really Cheney who deserves to rot in prison.) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/11 "2008-11-09T01:39:41Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > \ (Y’know, I can almost buy that GWB is just a dupe. It’s really Cheney who deserves to rot in prison.) GWB deserves the same fate just for being a dupe, never mind his being a lying, incompetent dupe. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-biden-move-into-number-one-observatory-circle/471735/12 "2008-11-09T05:15:53Z")
I wonder whether it will be rendered visible again through Google Earth.