Vice President Joe Biden has left the house for Herzegovina

In fact, he's left the country. But not for a royal funeral yet.

With Herzegovina on everyone's mind these days, Vice President Joe Biden has been dispatched by the Obama White House to settle things down over there and ensure they understand what the new American administration wants and expects.

And the interpreters can clean up any Biden verbal gaffes or swearing before they get translated to the foreign leaders, some of whom Biden knows from his Foreign Relations Committee days and the many, many years he served in the Senate while Barack Obama was growing up.

Not as many Senate years as Robert Byrd, mind you. But then the ailing Byrd at 91 has a few years on Biden.

Also the vice president, who had a free weekend and then a graduation speech Monday, will travel to Serbia, Kosovo and one other place in southeastern Europe. What was it? Oh, Bosnia.

Joe left his basement VP bunker Monday for the jammed three-day trip and many meetings with people with difficult-to-pronounce names. Joe's probably sound asleep over the Atlantic as we write this. So read quietly.

The main point of the trip, according to a recent briefing by "a senior administration official," is not so much to change anything on the ground there but to demonstrate a renewed United States interest in the region and a continued commitment to its progress toward economic development and peaceful democratization as part of a greater Europe. 

A number of the world's lesser countries have learned over the years to be very wary when the U.S. government  demonstrates a renewed interest in them. American soldiers have often followed, demonstrating an armored American interest.

It does seem like some of this message-sending could have been handled via e-mail. But then you don't get to use the big plane. And maybe get some media coverage.

In Biden's absence the president will be left to handle the automotive emissions problem and the windmill building by himself. Then, on Friday Obama gives his third and final commencement address of the diploma season, at the U.S. Naval Academy, where abortion is not likely to be on the agenda. Protests neither.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press (Biden tells Obama he's going to Herzegovina this week).

Comments

[Pom Pom Girl]

If I Were Obama I Would Want Slow Joe OUt of The Country Too.
Here is a good refresh for our collective memories on Joe Biden.

In September 1987, Joe Biden's Presidential campaign ran into problems when he plagiarized a speech by Neil Kinnock, who was then-leader of the British Labour Party.

It was also discovered that, when he was a law student at Syracuse Law School, he had plagiarized a law review article. While the then-dean of the law school, as well as Biden's former professor, played down the seriousness of the incident, they did find Biden drew "chunks of heavy legal prose directly from" the article in question. Biden said it was unintentional due to his not knowing the proper rules of citation, (after 4 years of college one should know the rules of citation) and Biden was permitted to retake the course after receiving a grade of F, which was later dropped from his record.

When questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school, Biden had inaccurately recalled graduating in the "top half" of his class when he actually graduated 76th from a class of 85, and he also falsely stated that he had received a full scholarship, and had earned three degrees. The truth is that he had received two majors, History and Political Science, and a single B.A degree, as well as a half scholarship based on financial need, not academic achievement .

When he was confronted with these truths, Biden withdrew from the nomination race on September 23, 1987, saying his candidacy had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his past mistakes.

These embarrassing moments, brought to you by Joe Biden, is yet another reason to ask The President, the Democrats and the media whether they want to keep Joe Biden just one heartbeat away from the Presidency!

[Lloyd Revalee]

Keep your fingers crossed. Biden is on the loose, and we may soon be involved in yet another war.

[Michael, Serbia]

All people in serbian administration who will be present are told to keep moth shout and watch out what they talk, because Joe could burst in flames and go in unpredicted way.