WASHINGTON — Here’s the thing about impromptu moments in politics: Often they work. Sometimes they fall flat. But occasionally they turn out downright awkward. Vice President Joe Biden learned that the hard way Tuesday — twice.
Hosting a White House summit on violent extremism, Biden sought to draw a parallel between Minneapolis, where local leaders are working to prevent radicalization of Somali youths, and his hometown of Wilmington, Del., which Biden said also has a “large, very identifiable Somali community.”
“I might add, if you ever come to the train station, you may notice that I have great relations with them, because an awful lot of them are driving cabs and are friends of mine,” Biden said.
His audience — a group of religious and community leaders, many of them Muslim or of African descent — responded with muted, uncomfortable chuckles.
The observation smacked of a 2006 gaffe when then-Sen. Biden told an Indian-American supporter that in Delaware, “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Just a few hours earlier Tuesday, Biden was swearing in new Defense Secretary Ash Carter when he put both hands on the shoulders of Carter’s wife, Stephanie, as her husband thanked Biden for presiding over the ceremony. Biden’s hands lingered for roughly 20 seconds until he leaned in and whispered in her ear.
Both incidents sparked prompt and voluminous reactions on social media: Just what was Biden thinking?
No stranger to improvisation, Biden endears himself to those who crave authenticity from political leaders. Supporters brush off his more jarring moments as “just Biden being Biden.”
Biden has said he’s considering a third run for president in 2016.
“He gets away with some stuff that others might not get away with, but it also makes him seem like a less serious person than he’d like to be,” said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
