Washington: US Vice President Joe Biden has apologised to President Barack Obama for putting him in "awkward spot" that led him to expedite his announcement on the marriage by same sex people, which was earlier planned closer to the election.
US media yesterday reported that Biden apologised to Obama on Wednesday before the US President gave an interview to the ABC News in which he announced that he now feels that the same sex people have the right to get married.
"The President has been the leader on this issue from day one and the vice president never intended to distract from that," said Kendra Barkoff, Biden`s press secretary. The Biden apology was first reported by The New York Times.
In an interview to the NBC`s "Meet The Press" over the weekend, Biden had said that he was "absolutely comfortable" with gay marriage, creating a controversy on the issue, forcing Obama to come out with his announcement. In his ABC interview, Obama said he was planning to make such an announcement closer to the election, but Biden`s statement expedited it.
"I had already made a decision that we were going to probably take this position before the election and before the convention," Obama said on ABC`s "Good Morning America." Biden "probably got out a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity of spirit," Obama said.
"It was easily the biggest instance of crossed wires between the garrulous vice president and his more button-down boss, in an administration that has been marked by occasional eruptions by Biden. And its effect was magnified both because it involved a fraught social issue and because it came just as the general election campaign is heating up," said The New York Times, which was the first American publication to report about the Biden`s apology on Thursday.
"Biden has said nothing publicly since his remarks on the NBC program `Meet the Press.` But he has told staff members at the White House that he regrets putting the president in an awkward spot, several officials said. These officials declined to characterise his precise remarks to Obama, or Obama`s response," the daily reported.
PTI
