It's not the worst thing on the record, but Joe Biden just needs to stick to the script. I mean, he’s already having difficulty with that, so let’s not overwhelm him. And it doesn’t help that it was an awkward moment with an ethnic group he’s denigrated before. The president said that Indian Americans are taking over the country during a call with NASA scientists who successfully landed a rover on Mars (via Washington Examiner):
President Biden quipped that Americans of Indian descent are taking over the country during a call to congratulate NASA scientists and engineers, led by Swati Mohan, whose team successfully landed the Perseverance rover on Mars.
Biden was quick to put his words in the context of celebrating the diversity of America, but the line could be added to the 78-year-old’s list of awkward comments.
Perseverance traveled about 300 million miles before landing on Mars two weeks ago as part of a study to establish whether the planet ever hosted life.
The president, who has had a career of verbal slips and a tendency to speak in a folksy manner, spoke to the team behind the Mars mission in a video conference call on Thursday evening.
I mean, this isn’t the worst thing Biden has said. It’s certainly not as bad as when he mentioned Indian Americans are taking over 7-11s and Dunkin Donuts franchises back in 2006 (via NBC News):
Facing criticism, potential 2008 presidential candidate Joe Biden has been forced to explain his recent remark that "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."
On a recent edition of the C-SPAN series "Road to the White House," the Delaware senator is shown shaking hands with a man and boasting about his support among Indian-Americans.
"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," Biden said.
The clip made its way through cyberspace this week and caught fire in Washington, where Biden is known as one of the more long-winded senators.
Joe is always at war with himself and his mouth. This has been the case for years. It was another awkward moment, but it could have been worse. The man did call Obama the first clean articulate black man to run for president, so for the White House communications team, this weird remark was still a win for the day.
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