President Obama, in between negotia tions and public ceremonies with Russian leaders Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, had to take time out to extract Joe Biden's foot from his mouth. The president had to disabuse the world of the notion that Biden had given Israel a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
Asked on Sunday whether the United States would prevent Israel from such an attack, Biden refused to say no, arguing suggestively that "Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."
Yesterday, Obama tried to repair what was widely seen as diplomatic damage.
"Absolutely not," the president replied when asked if Biden was sending Israel a go signal. "And I think it's very important that I'm as clear as I can be, and our administration is as consistent as we can be on this issue."
Well, it's certainly important that the administration be as clear as it can be on any number of issues -- arguably the most important being Mideast policy. How that squares with allowing Joe Biden out in public without a muzzle strapped to his face isn't quite clear.
One of these days, his mouth is going to cause problems that can't be papered over with soothing presidential rhetoric.
In the meantime, it's safe to say that the veep is certainly entertaining.