[207] During this period, Biden was satisfied that no major instances of waste or corruption had occurred,[202] and when he completed that role in February 2011, he said the number of fraud incidents with stimulus monies had been less than one percent.[208]
In late April 2009, Biden's off-message response to a question during the beginning of the swine flu outbreak led to a swift retraction by the White House.[209] The remark revived Biden's reputation for gaffes.[210][203][211] Confronted with rising unemployment through July 2009, Biden acknowledged that the administration had "misread how bad the economy was" but maintained confidence the stimulus package would create many more jobs once the pace of expenditures picked up.[212] On March 23, 2010, a microphone picked up Biden telling the president that his signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was "a big fucking deal" during live national news telecasts. Despite their different personalities, Obama and Biden formed a friendship, partly based around Obama's daughter Sasha and Biden's granddaughter Maisy, who attended Sidwell Friends School together.