Accepting an unwanted job out of a sense of duty to one's people is, thankfully, a common enough occurrence. The Bible considered shunning of power, a sign of worthiness. Moses, famously, set the precedent by tried to convince G-d he is the wrong man to lead Israel out of Egypt. America's founding father, George Washington, too was reluctant to accept the presidency.

Things seemed to have changed but maybe not always. Try the following:

Meet the Press, April 29, 2008

MR. RUSSERT: You said in the debate whoever wishes for Hillary is making a big mistake on the Republican side. You seem to be almost a quasi-endorsement. Are you interested in being vice president?

SEN. BIDEN: No. I will not be vice president under any circumstances.

Fast forward to June 22, 2008:

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator Biden, I don't mean to interrupt. SEN. BIDEN: No, I understand. MR. WILLIAMS: You're in the news yourself this past week.

SEN. BIDEN: Uh-oh. What did I do?

MR. WILLIAMS: You interested in the vice presidency?

SEN. BIDEN: I am not interested in the vice presidency.

MR. WILLIAMS: You're not interested in the vice presidency.

SEN. BIDEN: I'm not interested.

MR. WILLIAMS: MEET THE PRESS, April 29th, 2007, Tim Russert asks Joe Biden,"You interested in being vice president?""No, I will not be vice president under any circumstances." But in a different answer, you answered you'd have to say yes. I don't know, so...

SEN. BIDEN: Well, no. The bottom--look, the--when I was asked that question, I thought I was still going to be president. Now--number one, I, I am not interested in being vice president. I've let the candidate know. If the candidate asks me to be vice president, the answer is I got to say yes. But he's not going to ask me. Look, you cannot walk away...

MR. WILLIAMS: Now...

SEN. BIDEN: ...when your party--if the party nominee asked him to be vice...

MR. WILLIAMS: Is that a rule out or a rule in?

SEN. BIDEN: No, it--no, it's--I don't--I'm not interested. I'm--my--I answer your question honestly.

MR. WILLIAMS: But if asked?

SEN. BIDEN: Unlike most other people, I'm being straight with you. If asked, I will do it. I've made it clear I do not want to be asked.

MR. WILLIAMS: Do not want to be asked. But if asked, the answer, of course, would be yes.

SEN. BIDEN: Of course it would, because the--if the president--if the presidential nominee thought I could help him win, am I going to say to the first African-American candidate about to make history in the world that,"No, I will not help you out like you want me to"? Of course, I'm--I'll say yes.

Sounds noble. It certainly does not prepare you for this WSJ headline:

Biden Camp Pressed Hard For a Slot on the Ticket At least, I must admit, it did not prepare me. But, perhaps it should have. Perhaps, aware of the dangers to America and the world that electing an affirmative action candidate may pose to the country and the world, he concluded it was his duty to do his best to decrease the harm by accepting the vice presidency. After all, he made no secret of his belief that Barack Obama was not ready to president.

If so, thank you Joe Biden for not being as reckless as those superdelegates who put party before country by anointing Barack a major party's presidential candidate.