Vice President Joe Biden rang in Cinco de Mayo on Dos de Mayo with a breakfast at the Naval Observatory and a joke about the Mexican ambassador being a waiter.
About 40 people, ranging from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguia, dined on omelette and chorizo after Biden talked about “any excuse to celebrate,” even on the off date.
Biden called the day “more than about battles, it’s a celebration of friendship between Mexico and the U.S.,” according to the White House pool report.
He noted that Mexican-Americans had “enriched the culture” of America and that the country’s “single most significant advantage” in competing in the 21st century is its “constant nurturing” of new cultures.
Before he began speaking, Biden noted that Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., who was sitting nearest to the vice president’s lectern, was holding a silver drink tray.
“We have the ambassador now serving drinks?” he said to laughter, grabbing the tray from the ambassador. “He’s an all-purpose ambassador, I tell you.”
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