Arrives in U.S.
Pope Francis arrives for his first visit to the U.S. and is greeted by President Obama, Vice President Biden and their families at Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington. On the plane from Cuba Francis dismisses suggestions that he is a socialist, saying that despite his warnings of the inequities in the global economic system, his beliefs are consistent with the established social doctrine of the Church. After a brief private meeting with Obama in a VIP suite, the pope leaves for the residence of the Vatican ambassador to the United States in a black Fiat hatchback car with the number plate SCV 1.
Plays golf
Biden spends a rare weekend in the nation’s capital and joins Obama’s regular weekend golf game at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, a private golf club in Potomac, Maryland. Two aides round out Obama’s foursome. Obama usually plays with aides at when he’s at the White House. His golf party often includes bigger names when he plays away from home.
Criticizes China
Biden says Beijing’s policies in the South China Sea are adding to tensions and the potential for conflict in the region at a graduation ceremony at a naval academy in Maryland. He says that freedom of navigation and the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes are being tested by Chinese actions in the disputed waters, the source of territorial disputes among several countries, and that the United States’ role is to keep the peace.
They’re building airstrips, the placing of oil rigs, the imposition of unilateral bans on fishing in disputed territories, the declaration of air-defence zones, the reclamation of land, which other countries are doing, but not nearly on the massive scale the Chinese are doing. Tensions run high. As I speak, they run high, but you will be there to keep the peace.
Biden also says that as part of the pivot in US foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific there would be a significant shift of its military forces into the region.
That’s why 60 per cent of the United States naval forces will be stationed in the Asia Pacific by 2020.
Proud of middle class focus
At a Center for American Progress event Biden says that he’s proud that he’s spent his career focused on the middle class.
In this town, being referred to as ‘Middle Class Joe’ is meant as an insult. No, I really mean it. Because you’re not sophisticated if you’re middle class. Because even among some of we Democrats, we’re sophisticated jerks lots of times.
He stands by the straightforward comments that have gotten him into trouble:
I got criticized for saying LaGuardia was like a Third World airport. Guess what? The governor and everybody else, including The New York Times, calls it a Third World airport. And they’re changing it. We have to invest.
He advises Democrats making a White House bid:
We should run on what we’ve done. Whoever’s running should also talk about what the resurgence in place in the future is, and talk about in 2016 what we’ve done. Some say this amounts to a third term for President Obama. I call it sticking to what works and expanding on it to restore the middle class.