From the Associated Press
ELWOOD, Ill.
Vice President Joe Biden hailed America's fighting men and women Monday as the "spine of this nation," while President Barack Obama's Land of Lincoln tribute got washed out by a severe thunderstorm and high winds.
Biden made the more traditional appearance at Arlington National Cemetery on Obama's behalf, saying the country has "a sacred obligation" to make sure its servicemen and women are the best equipped and best-supported troops in the world.
"As a nation, we pause to remember them," Biden said. "They gave their lives fulfilling their oath to this nation and to us".
Obama had readied a similar message of gratitude for his appearance at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, and actually had taken the podium to give the address when the skies opened up with a quintessentially midwestern late-spring downpour -- thunder, lightning and high winds.
Under the cover of a large umbrella, he told thousands gathered before him that while "a little rain never hurt anybody," nobody wanted "anybody struck by lightning." He asked people to return to their cars for their safety, and he retreated briefly to an administration building on the cemetery's grounds. Obama a few minutes later boarded a pair of buses to greet military families that came for the event.
