Biden at the Munich Security Conference
Obama Sends Vice President to Build Bridges
US Vice President Joe Biden is the star guest at the Munich Security Conference this weekend. His speech on Saturday is supposed to form the basis of the new trans-Atlantic partnership. Instead of concrete pledges, experts await a bid to mend ties between Europe and the US.
It’s been little over three weeks since Joe Biden became deputy to the most powerful man in the world and he still hasn’t grown into his new role. The former senator can be seen at the State Department discussing foreign policy or dining with President Barack Obama in the White House. Sometimes he presents himself as a champion of the middle classes, at other times he appears in shirtsleeves at on a railway platform pleading for investment in infrastructure. “It is hard now,” he admitted in a recent TV interview. “What I have to think now is, everything I say, I am the vice president. I am not the president. So everything I say reflects directly on the administration.”
US President Barack Obama (L) and Vice President Joe Biden.
This Saturday Biden will be speaking explicitly on behalf of the United States. His speech at the Munich Security Conference will be the vice president’s first major international appearance — and the Bavarian capital is rolling out the red carpet for him. The conference organizers promise that his speech will provide the impetus for a new start in trans-Atlantic relations.
What are the expectations for the speech? “The tone is the message,” Laurie Dundon, who previously worked with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and is now at the Bertelsmann Foundation in Washington, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “The right words would define the parameters for future cooperation, just as preparations are being made for Obama’s Europe trip at the beginning of April to the G-20 summit in London and the NATO summit in Kehl and Strasbourg.”
COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE…
No related posts.
Tags: barack obama, Black Europe, germany, global, History, obama, Politics, Social History, united states, world
