IIt was Back to the Future at the White House. Starring Barack Obama as Marty McFly and Joe Biden as Doc Brown. And ignoring Donald Trump as Biff Tannen, a four-year break in the space-time continuum.
Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since a bleak winter morning in January 2017 when he departed alongside Trump, who seemed determined to erase the first black president.
Like a star pupil returning to his old school, proud and shining with his career achievements, the 44th President of the US was greeted by an enthusiastic staff, probably too polite to mention his increasingly gray hair. He was housed in the Oval Office by the protégé who happens to be 19 years older than him.
They had lunch, as they used to when Obama was in charge and Biden was vice president. “We weren’t sure who he was supposed to sit where,” the 46th president said later with a laugh.
What did they talk about? Triumph? Ukraine? Biden’s Failed Exit from Afghanistan? Hopefully, the conversation was less awkward than their lunches in 2015 when Obama, having anointed Hillary Clinton as his successor, gently pushed Biden away to run for president.
“The president was not encouraging,” Biden wrote in his memoir Promise Me, Dad.
Who knows if Biden would have beaten Trump in 2016, but he did so four years later and won the throne after all. Now, with his approval rating slipping, it was time to call in a favor and an injection of charisma from his old boss.
Obama’s landmark healthcare law was politically unpopular at the time and turned out to be in a “chalaqueo” by Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections. But now the Affordable Care Act is a fixture, and Biden needs a political boost before his own midterm trial.
In the East Room — the Rose Garden was canceled due to rain — he got Obama to talk about the law and how many people it has helped before Biden signed an executive order to strengthen it.
It was also an exercise in nostalgia for that (seemingly) simple pre-Trump, pre-Brexit, pre-pandemic, pre-George Floyd murder, pre-Ukraine war world, when the definition of controversy was sometimes no more than the president wearing a tan suit.
“Vice President Biden”, Obama started at a lectern with the presidential seal, causing loud laughter in the public. Obama added: “That was a joke!” He walked over to Biden, shook his hand, leaned over and patted him on the back. Biden applauded. Obama added: “That was all set. My president, Joe Biden.”
Not that any clarification prevents Fox News, QAnonists, and Internet conspiracy theorists from claiming it as proof that Obama is still running the government after all.
Obama, who has since delved into television production and memoir writing, continued: “It’s good to be back in the White House. It’s been a while. I confess that I heard that the current president has made some changes since the last time I was here.”
Acknowledging Biden’s penchant for sunglasses and ice cream, Obama continued: “Apparently Secret Service agents now have to wear aviator glasses. The navy clutter has been replaced with a Baskin Robbins. And there’s a cat running around, which I guarantee Bo and Sunny. [his pet dogs] I would have been very unhappy.
“But coming back, even if I have to wear a tie, which I rarely do these days, gives me a chance to visit some of the amazing people who serve this White House and who serve this country every day, a lot. of times out of the spotlight.”
He described Biden as “an extraordinary friend and partner who stood by me for eight years,” adding, “Joe Biden and I did a lot together.” The East Room erupted in cheers and cheers. Vice President Kamala Harris, standing on stage, turned to Biden and applauded him.
Obama made a list, from saving the global economy to repealing the homophobic don’t ask/don’t tell law on LGBTQ members of the military, “but nothing made me more proud than providing better health care and protection to millions of people across this country.” world”. country”.
Trump was never mentioned, but Obama laughed: “It’s fair to say a lot The Republicans showed little interest in working with us to get things done. It’s fair to say.” Republicans tried in vain to repeal the Affordable Care Act over and over again, he noted.
And America has only become more divided since Obama left office. He continued with a bit of nostalgia: “Now I am a private citizen. But I still have more than a passing interest in the course of our democracy.”
He shook hands and hugged Biden again, who walked to the lectern and did his part. “My name is Joe Biden and I am Barack Obama’s vice president,” he said with a laugh. “Welcome back to the White House, man. He feels like the good old days.”
However, early in his presidency, it seemed that Biden’s ambitions would surpass Obama’s. He outlined a broad social, economic and climate agenda that made critics suggest Obama thought too small. Much of it has sunk in, though, as political gravity brought Biden back down to earth.
It turned out Tuesday that he does need some of Obama’s magic after all. After signing the executive order at a small table, 46 turned and handed 44 the pen. The couple smiled and they exchanged a fist bump and all that was missing was a performance of The Way We Were.
Could it be that everything was so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all over again
Tell me, could we?
We could?
Reference-www.theguardian.com