The White House is batting cleanup for President Joe Biden, tweaking the official transcript from the USS Delaware commissioning ceremony after his verbal slip inadvertently promoted First Lady Jill Biden from Dr. Ed. to former Vice President.
“My name is Joe Biden. I am Jill’s husband,” Biden joked to open his remarks on Saturday. “It’s always a good day when I get to celebrate Delaware or spend time with service members and their families or introduce Jill. That’s a trifecta in my family.”
Biden went on to thank all those who had brought the USS Delaware from plan to reality, at which point he turned back to his wife.
JOE BIDEN: “I’m deeply proud of the work [Jill is] doing as first lady with Joining Forces initiative she started with Michelle Obama when she was vice president” pic.twitter.com/wO12WPQ56I
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 2, 2022
“The daughter of a Navy signalman during World War Two, the mother of a member of the Delaware National Guard, the grandmother of children who experienced having their father deployed away from home for a year at a time. She always holds our military and their families in her heart. And that is not hyperbole; that’s real,” Biden continued. “And I’m deeply proud of the work she is doing as First Lady with Joining Forces initiative she started with Michelle Obama when she was vice president and now carries on.”
Although the president apparently made no effort to correct himself at the time, the official White House transcript made a small edit to his comments:
And I’m deeply proud of the work she is doing as First Lady with Joining Forces initiative she started with Michelle Obama when
she[I] was Vice President and now carries on.
Saturday was certainly not the first time Biden has slipped — he has referred to his own Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Harris” on more than one occasion. And recently, instead of revealing the fact that Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff had contracted COVID-19, he announced that the first lady’s husband had tested positive — only to be reminded that he was, in fact, the first lady’s husband.
As The Daily Wire reported:
“Look at the stage,” Biden said, gesturing off to one side. “There’s been a little change in the arrangement of who’s on the stage, because of — the first lady’s husband contracted COVID, but … look at this room and what you’ll see …”
Someone off to the side caught Biden’s attention then, and he stepped back slightly from the microphone to hear them.
“Pardon me?” he said, and laughter erupted in the room, only getting louder as Biden clearly realized what he had said and added, “That’s right. She’s fine. It’s me … The second lady — the first gentleman — how about that?”