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In Kenya, a Cheerful Biden Gamely Fills in for His BossBy JEFFREY
GETTLEMAN<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/jeffrey_gettleman/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

NAIROBI, Kenya — Standing before an auditorium packed with Kenyan students
on Wednesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden
Jr.<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/joseph_r_jr_biden/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
knew
full well that he was a somewhat disappointing understudy for President
Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
whose father was Kenyan and who has reached near deity status here with his
visage plastered to billboards, minibuses, shawls, dresses and the like.

“Hello, my name is Joe Biden,” he offered as an opening line. “I work
for Barack
Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
.”

The audience laughed.

Mr. Biden, who has spent two days in Kenya en route to the opening of the
World Cup in South Africa this week, went on to present a balance sheet of
Kenya’s attributes — and its problems.

Sticking to a familiar
script<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-university-students-nairobi-kenya>
and
hitting many of the same notes that Mr. Obama himself has hit, he praised
Kenyans for building the “largest non-oil, non-mineral based economy in
sub-Saharan Africa.”

He also talked glowingly about Kenya’s “human capital” and its commitment to
education.

But he was not shy about Kenya’s lackluster leadership and said that “too
many times, Kenya has been divided against itself, torn apart by ethnic
tensions, manipulated by leaders who place their own interests above the
interests of their country.”

And he warned against succumbing to fear.

“As you prepare to write a new history for your nation,” he said, referring
to Kenya’s coming referendum on a new constitution, “resist those who try to
divide you based on ethnicity or religion or region and above all, fear.
Fear is a tool as old as mankind, and it’s been used with great effect in
this country.”

His 25-minute pep talk may not have lived up to the “major speech” that Mr.
Biden promised on Tuesday that he was going to deliver, but no matter what
he said, he was likely to be seen as a poor stand-in for his boss.

“In Kenya, in particular, Mr. Biden will find that he is no substitute for
Obama,” Macharia Gaitho, a Kenyan columnist, wrote on Tuesday. “If anything,
his visit will be a painful reminder that ‘our’ president in the diaspora
still cannot find the time to pay a visit ‘home.’ ”

Still, Mr. Biden’s weeklong swing through Africa will not be cheap. Among
other things, the United States government flew his motorcade from
Washington to Nairobi, a distance of about 7,500 miles.

He walked a fine line on some of the most contentious issues in Kenya today.
For instance, he was unequivocal that he supported constitutional reform,
but told the students that “this is your decision, your decision alone.”

His words may have been carefully chosen in response to a pending
investigation of the Obama administration’s activities surrounding the
Kenyan referendum<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/africa/14kenya.htm>.
A group of Republican members of Congress say that the proposed constitution
makes it easier to get an abortion (it is currently illegal in Kenya) and
that the American Embassy here has openly supported the campaign to pass the
constitution.

That, they argue, amounts to a violation of a federal rule prohibiting
foreign aid from being used to lobby for or against abortion. American
diplomats in Nairobi said a team of federal investigators had recently
arrived to investigate the matter.

--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co