Biden delivers sober remarks on economy

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden took some wind out of House Democrats' sails as he repeatedly told them the challenges they face as a party are "daunting."

"There has never been the constellation of crises we face right now," Biden told the House members Friday during their annual retreat at Williamsburg, Va. "And we have no historical precedent to look back on, other than our grit. Our determination."

Biden said the gloomy assessment of the nation's economy that he and President Barack Obama were giving was "not hyperbole," The Hill reported.

"(It's) not that things are so bad now," Biden said, "it's what happens if we miss."

Biden spoke as the Labor Department reported a loss of 598,000 jobs in January.

Biden told the House Democratic Caucus that no matter where party priorities originated, the fate of the entire party was linked, the Washington publication said.

"We're all in this together," he said. "The only thing we can get wrong is not reaching a consensus among ourselves … and showing the American people that we're thinking small."

On foreign policy, Biden compared the situation in Iraq to a football team being 20 yards from the end zone, but will require "a lot of hard, hard work."

In Afghanistan, however, "I think we're closer to being on our 20-yard line with 80 yards to go, to continue this ridiculous metaphor," he said.