Vice presidents of the United States can be major players in a political drama, as current VP Joe Biden demonstrated amply in the past couple of days.

He helped broker a financial deal that averted a potential economic catastrophe. Biden worked with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on a deal to save middle-class tax cuts and to stop automatic spending cuts that could have plunged the nation into another recession.

Biden’s role was critical for this reason: He spent 37 years in the Senate and knows how the system works in that body. He speaks senators’ language and knows many of the Senate’s senior members, such as McConnell, very well.

Indeed, President Obama employed the VPOTUS in a constructive manner that could serve as a model for future presidents. Indeed, think for a moment of another president limited legislative experience with a VP with many years of it working on Capitol Hill. The thought turns to President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson.

JFK never used LBJ in the way Obama deployed Biden. Johnson in fact was a master legislator, perhaps one of the best in Senate history. It is to his great credit that the current president sent Biden onto the legislative battlefield when the call came from McConnell to help rescue the talks that had broken down between the GOP leader and his Democratic counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Whatever political spoils go to the administration over this deal, the president owes his No. 2 man a debt of thanks.

Given the stock market’s reaction to news of the deal – the Dow skyrocketed 300-plus points today – so do millions of Americans who made a few bucks today.

Good job, Mr. Vice President.