--- title: Joe Biden Whispers in Ashton Carter Wife's Ear description: "The world's most powerful close talker" strikes again canonical: https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-17T19:25:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:01.407Z og:title: Joe Biden Got a Little Too Close to the New Defense Secretary's Wife og:description: "The world's most powerful close talker" strikes again og:url: https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a4b565a4ccf6900/69877f9ce53abab0af4d79f9/463675586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4999 og:image:height: 2812 og:image:alt: Joe Biden Swears In New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Got a Little Too Close to the New Defense Secretary's Wife twitter:description: "The world's most powerful close talker" strikes again twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a4b565a4ccf6900/69877f9ce53abab0af4d79f9/463675586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Got a Little Too Close to the New Defense Secretary's Wife > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Feb 17, 2015 7:25 PM UTC  Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter delivers remarks after being sworn in during a ceremony in the White House in Washington. D.C. while his wife Stephanie Carter and Vice President Joseph Biden observe on Feb. 17, 2015. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter delivers remarks after being sworn in during a ceremony in the White House in Washington. D.C. while his wife Stephanie Carter and Vice President Joseph Biden observe on Feb. 17, 2015. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Feb 17, 2015 7:25 PM UTC During the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Tuesday, cameras caught Vice President Joe Biden whispering into the new defense secretary’s wife’s ears. Critics were quick to pounce on what they saw as another example of the veep’s poor etiquette. “Joe Biden strikes again with inappropriate touching,” wrote [Truth Revolt](http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/joe-biden-strikes-again-inappropriate-touching-white-house-ceremony#.VOOQ1rj%5FjF4.twitter). “New SecDef can’t even defend his wife from Joe Biden,” the [_Daily Caller_ quipped.](http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/17/new-secdef-cant-even-defend-his-wife-from-joe-biden-military-chief-oblivious-as-vp-nibbles-on-wifes-ear/?utm%5Fsource=twitterfeed&utm%5Fmedium=twitter) This isn’t Biden’s first time close-talking. In fact, the [Washington _Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/17/joe-biden-takes-being-biden-to-new-heights-or-lows/)declared Biden “the world’s most powerful close talker.” There was that time last year when he cozied up to a biker: > [](https://twitter.com/SirCullen/status/542001790892650497) And then when he chatted with Delaware Sen. Chris Coons’ daughter Maggie during a different swearing-in ceremony. (After the Internet backlash, Coons [noted](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/01/11/coons-my-daughter-doesnt-think-joe-biden-is-creepy/) that his daughter “doesn’t think the vice president is creepy.”) > [](https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/552688956165619713) _Read next:_ [_Justice Ginsburg Admits She Was Tipsy at State of the Union_](http://time.com/3708792/rbg-sober-sotu/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." Lisa Jack [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Got a Little Too Close to the New Defense Secretary's Wife","datePublished":"2015-02-17T19:25:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:01.407Z","description":"\"The world's most powerful close talker\" strikes again","url":"https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Joe Biden","politics","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a4b565a4ccf6900/69877f9ce53abab0af4d79f9/463675586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a4b565a4ccf6900/69877f9ce53abab0af4d79f9/463675586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joe Biden Swears In New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter","caption":"Joe Biden Swears In New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3712274/joe-biden-whisper/","name":"Joe Biden Got a Little Too Close to the New Defense Secretary's Wife"}}]}] ```