Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday touted his relationship with former President Barack Obama in a meeting with black voters in New York and assured them that he is close friends with Obama.
“He’s my buddy,” Biden said at a breakfast hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network. “All those memes are true, except he did the first friendship bracelet, not me.”
Biden name-checked Obama multiple times during his speech by referring to him as his friend “Barack,” as he pitched the Obama administration’s record on the topics such as criminal justice reform.
He also made a point of bashing President Trump on race, by calling out Trump’s remarks after the protests in Charlottesville in 2017 and his claim that there were “very fine people on both sides” of that incident.
“No president since the Civil War had ever, ever uttered words like that,” Biden said.
Biden pointed to the administration’s move to reduce the sentencing gap for crack and powder cocaine offenses, along with the commutation of over 1,700 sentences. He called for states to reduce mandatory minimum sentencing to stem the overcrowding of prisons.
“I’ve been in this fight a long time,” Biden said, pointing to his work on criminal justice and voting rights. “I haven’t always been right. I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried.”
Biden made no specific reference to 2020, although he has hinted he’ll be a candidate in the coming months. He appeared with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who hinted that both he and Biden might be running.
“Whatever the next year brings for Joe and me, I know we’ll both keep our eyes on the real prize of electing a Democrat to the White House in 2020 and getting our country back on track,” Bloomberg said.
“I haven’t had a chance yet to talk to the vice president at length today, but I did want to get some pointers from him of how it’s like to live in Washington, D.C.,” he joked.
Bloomberg, who re-registered as a Democrat in October, pointed to his work on a series of issues, including gun control, to the attendees, along with his work to elect Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., who represents part of suburban Atlanta.
However, he did not specifically mention the “stop and frisk” law, a police tactic employed during his time in office that has come under fire from civil rights groups.
“I can’t stand up here and tell you that every decision I made as mayor was perfect,” Bloomberg said. “But I can tell you we were always guided by the goal … of saving lives of those who faced the greatest risk of gun violence: young men of color.”
