His multiple ignorant blunders have drawn the attention of The Telegraph, who roasts him as only the English can do.
"Biden’s blunder is the latest in a series of Obama presidency insults relating to Poland. In May last year Barack Obama was strongly criticised by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after he described Nazi death camps during World War Two as “a Polish death camp.” Tusk blasted Obama’s statement for its “ignorance, lack of knowledge, (and) bad intentions.” In 2010 Obama chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who were killed in the Smolensk air disaster, an act that was viewed as deeply insensitive by many Poles. In addition, the Obama administration announced the cancellation of Third Site missile defences on September 17, 2009, which also happened to be the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
The White House will inevitably laugh off Biden’s latest slip of the tongue as “Joe being Joe.” But it is symbolic of a vice president and possible presidential contender who is often appallingly bad with details (he also mixes up former Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar in the Munich speech), a significant flaw for someone who is supposedly the second most powerful figure in the United States.
Biden’s confusion of Poland with Portugal also reflects the Obama administration’s tendency to treat Europe as one large entity, rather than as a collection of nation states. In the eyes of the Obama presidency, the European Union is Europe, and the Eurozone is the EU. Washington has so much invested in advancing the European Project that it frequently fails to distinguish between key allies like Poland or Great Britain, and fair weather friends like France. Mr. Biden has demonstrated once again that he can be an embarrassment, both at home and abroad, while advancing a foreign policy that weakens, rather than strengthens U.S. interests."
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