Before President Joe Biden, there was Uncle Joe, the character created by The onion during Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House. Uncle Joe was a goofy, relatable character who contrasted with a serious, earnest Obama; he wore ripped Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirts, reminisced about the summer of ’87, and took the microphone during press conferences to weigh in on his favorite Wu-Tang Clan album. People loved Uncle Joe as a concept, so much so that when he ran for president, the creator of the skits was accused of making it seem as well identifiable
Presumably much of the original humor of the Onion The parody was based on the fact that Obama chose Biden as his running mate because he was seen as a “safe choice,” someone who had been in the Senate for more than 30 years alongside a newcomer. But it wasn’t entirely untrue that Biden was a living wire compared to the man he worked alongside. Obama said of Biden that “we couldn’t have been more different,” and put that on a bonus, explaining why he chose Biden over someone more anticipated like Tim Kaine. Biden was warm, talkative and unfiltered, even then slightly prone to mistakes; Obama was more thoughtful and introspective. It was also a universal truth, and still is, that if you’re a person of color or a woman (or both) running for president, you should have an old white man by your side so we don’t scare the people we might. charitably called traditionalists. Tim Kaine got a chance at him when Hillary Clinton ran in 2016.
But people fell for the Obama-Biden friendship in a big way. And it wasn’t just about political types: everywhere, from The Guardian for Funny posted stories about the seemingly adorable couple. harper’s bazaar posted a 21-page gallery on Barack and Joe’s “epic bromance,” detailing their golf trips, shared Shake Shack lunches, attending basketball games together, and a close hug after winning his second term. There is plenty of evidence that Biden and Obama knew the love of the world for their love and played up to it. In 2016, the official vice-presidential account run by Biden (or at least his publicists) tweeted an image of two intertwined friendship bracelets, one reading “JOE,” the other “BARACK,” with the note: “Happy 55, Barack! A brother to me, a best friend forever.”
And there is something genuinely moving about friendship. When Obama surprised Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2017 and Biden was overwhelmed with emotion, it would have taken a heart of stone for him not to be moved. Biden is the kind of man to whom America and his pomp really mean everything, a man who spent most of his life shuttling back and forth between Scranton, Delaware and DC. Obama gave him the best gift he could ever have received, until the country made a better one and voted him president, of course.
Yet Obama remained mostly silent during Biden’s presidential run, endorsing him late and staying out of the conversation when he was busy debating with fellow Democrats. The world was hungry for more of the old bromance, when politics seemed a bit simpler. And this week, Uncle Joe and Barack did the fans a service.
Obama returned to the White House for the first time in five years to attend a health care event. Apparently, he was there because he was the original architect of the Affordable Care Act, which Biden was adding today (or “a glitch” was being “fixed”). It was a sign of respect to invite Obama and a publicity victory for him to accept. The 46th president’s approval ratings need a little boost.
Obama opened with a good-humored joke, pretending to get Biden’s title wrong and referring to him as “vice president.” Lest the right wing seize on it as proof of some imagined cognitive decline, he added: “That was a joke. That was all set. My president, Joe Biden.” The two hugged.
Biden then launched into a speech about the importance of the ACA, which he also charitably referred to as “Obamacare.” As Kamala Harris and Obama stood to his left, she spoke about the reasons people get into politics and the “sabotage” fellow Republicans have been trying to enact on the ACA for 12 years. Affecting a southern accent, he said “they haven’t changed much” in that time; he, too, nodded to Obama, saying, of crafting health care legislation, that he “had a little practice when you were president and I was with you.”
It was a short, nondescript speech, but the revival of the bromance on stage was the real victory. “Barack, I’ll remind you that it’s a hot mic,” Biden said at the end, as he moved toward the executive order he was about to sign. It was a politely self-deprecating reference to the time he, Biden, that is, said into a lit microphone that Obamacare was “a big deal” in 2010. In 2022, he made another polite joke about how “Barack Obama always signs his name with nine different pens,” he used a pen to sign his own executive order, hugged Nancy Pelosi, and went about his day.
Uncle Joe and Obama are back. But as Biden’s approval ratings plummet to 35 percent and a midterm election looms on the horizon, many Democrats are asking: Will they be enough?
Reference-www.independent.co.uk