(CNN) — An aide to Vice President Joe Biden tells CNN he called Chief Justice John Roberts last week to apologize for a light-hearted remark he made over the flubbed Inauguration Day oath of office.
"My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts," Biden said last Wednesday, as he asked for a copy of the oath he was using to swear in senior members of the White House staff.
Several staffers reacted to the comment with groans and laughter, though President Obama, standing next to Biden, did not crack a smile.
An aide to the vice president said Tuesday the two men spoke privately after that comment. “They spoke and had a good conversation,” said the aide, who declined to give further details.
Roberts' mistake came about half way through the 35-word oath, when, reciting from memory, he said the word 'faithfully,' out of order. The flub confused Obama who ultimately repeated the mistake.
Meanwhile, Biden has been selected to handle the administration’s first foreign trip. The White House said Tuesday the vice president will travel to Germany next week with retired Gen. James Jones, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Biden will represent the United States at the Wehrkunde, the annual security policy conference held in Munich.
–CNN's Ed Henry contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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I don't like the gotcha culture. We all make mistakes. I think we all have foot in mouth disease more than we would care to acknowledge. Can you imagine being under this kind of media microscope? Let's not discourage good people from entering into the service of politics by overanalyzing every facial twitch and small misstep. Believe it or not, not all blunders by political leaders need to even be reported at all. Let us discard Jerry Springerism, and start a new culture where we sincerely want each other to succeed.
My goodness we're going very easy on Mr. Biden's goofy joke; not so easy on Mr. Bush's misspeaks, or Dan Quayle's a few years ago. They were treated like idiots. You may say it isn't important; lighten up, but it is certainly not the tone Mr. Obama wishes to set during his first few days in office – poking fun at people for simple mistakes.
Roberts is the one who needs to apologize.
It was funny Joe- no need to apologize- I HOPE THAT'S WHAT THE CHIEF JUSTICE SAID-OTHERWISE......
jumbo,
You mean as opposed to the countless apologies from Cheney that never happened?
Joe, you did nothing wrong. i don't see why you felt you had to apologize, IF anything, Chief Justice Roberts should've given a public apology to the new President and the American People....
God Bless America
Don't worry Joe, I'd have said the same thing! I get in trouble all the time for the stuff that flows out of my mouth too!
Joe needs to lay off the sauce.
The world needs to lighten up. It was funny. If it was up to the politically correct dictators, the entire world world would be stripped of humor because something might offend someone.
I noticed who really didn't think it was funny, his boss, Obama. Funny however, Obama didn't have a problem when he messed up taking the oath of office. And don't tell me it was the fault of Justice Roberts. If I knew I was being watched by millions of people you bet I'd study that oath until the cows came home.
Yep, seems to me if Obama messes up, it's ok, but don't anyone else do it. Guess it's just ego getting in the way on the behalf of Obama!
Barely a speed bump compared to the whoopers of the past 36 years that we here in the First State have had to contend with....Biden's the kind og guy that if you just give him enough rope, he'll hang himself .
Should be a gaffe-filled 4 years.
If you take life too seroiusly and not make light of certain insignificant things... you wind up in ... Alaska, as part of the Palin PAC.
Come on... He's a kidder. Always will be. He does, however, get serious when he needs to be. That's what I like about him... one of the many things I like about him. When he says he's sorry he means it!
President Obama was sensitive enough to Biden's "joke" that he tapped Biden lightly on the back and was negatively shaking his head. Of course, Biden didn't pick up on the subtle hint and kept talking. A few hours later Obama was sworn in again; this time with the exact phrasing. I can guarantee you that had he not taken the oath again, some people in this country would have said he wasn't "really" the president because of the screw-up. Obama is deadly serious about this country and its myriad problems. Biden needs to emulate the President's demeanor a little more. The "boys" can goof around when the day is over and the cameas are not rolling.
Does anyone reading this story agree with me that Roberts was a jerk and deserved to be chided by Biden? I don't think Joe Biden should apologize. He made a true statement about the way he saw the situation. Why are we so afraid of truth? I am sorry, but I am tired of all the "Mr. Nice Guy"" comments here after 8 years of Hell with Bush and Cheney... I do not believe we should hide our anger about those eight years. Roberts (on the Supreme Court) is one of the heart breaking prices we have paid for those years. He is a right wing ideologue —pure and simple.
Although I would argue that Joe does seem more like Bush, and we may have 8 years of "Bindenisms," I do think everyone needs to lighten up a bit.
Could you please tell Joe to turn off the clown act,he only seem's to be able to go from clown to fool then back again.!
The 6month disaster comment during campaign was horrible.
I feel Joe is one of the weakest links in Obama's chain. Also including Sec of Labor, an especially bad pick!
During the debates, I noticed that Joe Biden simply talks way too much. End of story.
I can't wait for Biden to start the Blagojevich jokes!
THANK YOU......@Obama : – )
Yeah it was a joke and nothing was intended but let's face it if Bush or Cheney had made the same joke people would be calling for their blood.
Seriously? This was a story? Are we all really that up tight?
Why is everyone ignoring the part where President Obama blurted out his response before Mr. Roberts was finished stating the entire phrase? I've only seen one news article; no late-night comedians, mention that perhaps Mr. Obama's premature recitation is what threw off Mr. Roberts. No chuckling over this President's mistakes.
This is absolute nonsense! It was a simple joke. It wasn't even malicious or anything, it was simply poking fun at an incident everyone is talking about.
Now he has to apologize for it? That shows how pathetic some people will go to make it an issue and force him to apologize about something as stupid as this.
Argh!
Tony...I totally agree, but the only difference is that nobody whined about this. It would be one thing if Chief Justice Roberts was insulted (thankfully he has a sense of humor and wasn't) but now we are to the point that you have to apologize for everything regardless of whether or not someone without a sense of humor took offense to it. Everyone needs to just relax a bit, things are bad enough without having to apologize for every little light hearted joke.