Biden portrait MIA from Pentagon

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- A regular riff of late-night comedians throughout the Bush years was "where is Dick Cheney," the secretive former vice president and a favorite subject for cartoonists who portrayed him plotting strategy from an "undisclosed location."

Today at the Pentagon, however, some people are asking the same question about the new vice president, Joe Biden.

The official portrait of the commander-in-chief that hangs in the main entrance of the Pentagon facing the Potomac River was swiftly replaced with a gleaming digital image of President Barack Obama on Inauguration Day.

But as of this morning, three days later, the portrait of Biden is nowhere to be found.

As is customary, the portraits of former President Bush and Cheney were taken down as soon as the transfer of power occurred this week and Obama's photo was hung by maintenance crews.

But next to him remains a blank section of wall reserved for the second-in-command of the armed forces (crews were saved the trouble of replacing the portrait of Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, who Obama asked to stay on in the new administration).

Navy Commander Darryn James, a department spokesman, said the Pentagon is still trying to get an explanation for the delay. Calls today to the Washington Headquarters Service, which is responsible for maintaining the Pentagon, and Biden's press secretary have so far gone unanswered.

However, several folks in the Pentagon offered one unkind theory for the delay: The vice president, who has a reputation for being vain and seeking publicity, simply can't decide which photo of himself looks best.

UPDATE: Biden's spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, said the real reason for the delay is more simple: “The vice president is busy working with the president to address the economic and foreign policy challenges our nation is facing right now. Our office actually hasn’t received the proofs yet of the photos, but when we get them, there will be a speedy turn around.”