President Obama surprised Vice President Joe Biden with a special ceremony on Thursday during which he awarded his second-in-command the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“To know Joe Biden is to know love without pretense, service without self-regard, and to live life fully,” the outgoing president told White House staffers and members of the first and second families gathered inside the East Room.
He continued, “So Joe, for your faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country, and for your lifetime of service … I am pleased to award our nation’s highest civilian honor.”
Biden immediately turned away from the cameras to gather his composure as Obama made the announcement. “I had no inkling,” he later said.
Both men spent Thursday’s farewell ceremony reminiscing on their time together in office. Of Biden, the president said, “He’s been unafraid to give it to me straight even when we disagree — in fact, especially when we disagree.”
“I’ve never known a president who had the integrity, and the decency, and the sense of other peoples’ needs like you do,” Biden responded, returning the compliment.
The two men will hand the White House over to President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Pence in just eight days and have thus been busy doing their rounds and saying their goodbyes. Obama delivered his final address to the nation earlier this week and will give his last television interview as commander in chief on Sunday.
“This gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our bromance,” the president quipped at his event with Biden on Thursday.
Biden, who wrestled with his own presidential ambitions early on in the 2016 election, has been a regular source of humor on the campaign trail and around the White House.
But he has also been “the best vice president America’s ever had,” Obama said.
“Even though our terms are nearly over, one of the greatest gifts of these past eight years is that we’re forever bonded as a family,” he said, gesturing toward Biden, his wife and grandchildren.
“This is the kind of family that built this country. That’s why my family is so proud to call ourselves honorary Bidens,” Obama said to laughter.
When it was his turn, Biden spoke tearfully. “There’s not one single solitary source of entitlement in you,” he said to the president. “This honor is not only well beyond what I deserve, but it’s a reflection of the extent of generosity of your spirit.”
“I don’t deserve this,” he repeated. “But I know it comes from the president’s heart.”
