FILLING IN FOR BOSS

(WATCH THE VIDEO HERE)
In Kenya, a Cheerful Biden Gamely Fills in for His Boss
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: June 9, 2010

NAIROBI, Kenya — Standing before an auditorium packed with Kenyan students on Wednesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. knew full well that he was a somewhat disappointing understudy for President Obama, 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.”

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 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. 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.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 10, 2010, on page A10 of the New York edition.