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Biden’s Cringe-Worthy Obama Library Moment Goes Viral

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Photo Credit: "Joe Biden" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Former President Joe Biden appeared to drift through a series of awkward stage moments at the opening of Barack Obama’s presidential library, creating an unexpected sideshow at a glittering Chicago ceremony meant to celebrate his former boss’s legacy.

After the ceremony wound down Thursday, the 83-year-old remained by the podium as he was seen waving, looking across the audience and lingering after others had already left the stage.

In another clip, Obama moved by as Biden faced the crowd, and later footage showed the former president seeming unsure where to go amid the stage traffic.

Jill Biden eventually came to his side, but the stage confusion became the viral subplot of the Obama Presidential Center dedication.

The event brought Biden together with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, along with a long list of celebrities, musicians and Democratic power players.

Obama used part of his remarks to publicly honor Biden, nodding to the partnership that carried them through two White House terms.

“Thank you for your steadfast partnership for eight years,” Obama said from the stage.

“Joe, we started as running mates, and ended as family. And we would not be here without you, and we are grateful.”

The crowd applauded during a ceremony stacked with performances from Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bono, John Legend and Christina Aguilera.

Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Chrissy Teigen, Jennifer Hudson, LL Cool J, Tyler Perry, Conan O’Brien and Rita Wilson were also among the big names in attendance.

Wilson’s husband, Tom Hanks, supplied one of the day’s stranger live-TV moments when he popped into an MS NOW broadcast and immediately cracked a joke about the liberal network’s audience.

Hanks wandered into Jacob Soboroff’s live shot and turned the network itself into the punchline.

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“What can I do for the 800 people watching MSNOW?” Hanks asked.

“Alright, add a zero if you need to,” he cracked.

Soboroff played along, telling Hanks that the audience had probably grown because of his cameo.

“I would say millions now that you’re on our air,” Soboroff replied.

“I gotta tell ya, I can hear the clicks happening before my very eyes,” Hanks said as he left.

Back in the studio, anchor Katy Tur appeared amused by the exchange.

“Alright, thanks Tom. Appreciate that,” Tur replied from the studio.

“He has been very supportive of the press, at least in the past,” she joked, referring to the coffee machine Hanks donated to White House reporters in 2017.

The ceremony also drew internet mockery before Obama even delivered his main address.

The opening handed critics an easy target when Valerie Jarrett began with a land acknowledgment.

“We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” Jarrett told attendees.

“We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa and the Potawatomi nations.”

The ritual immediately became a target for conservative commentators online.

“So you just went ahead and built on that land anyway, huh,” Stephen Miller wrote.

“Wouldn’t they prefer you just give them their land back?” Steve Deace mocked.

Obama later shifted the ceremony toward civic ideals, with remarks that sounded aimed at the politics of Trump’s second term.

Reaching back to the founding, Obama cast American democracy as a rejection of kings, subjects and inherited power.

The center’s exhibits, he said, were designed around the values that keep democracy alive.

“A belief in the intrinsic dignity and worth of all people, and that no one is above the law or beneath its protection,” Obama began.

Obama’s list moved through courts, press freedoms, checks on power and public servants who answer to the Constitution.

He also emphasized elections, character and restraint in public life.

“A belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections, recognizing that in a large, complicated society like ours, no group or faction gets its way 100 percent of the time,” Obama said.

“And it believes that qualities of character, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, sense of duty, and honor, those things matter in our public dealings, just as they do in our private lives.”

Surrounded by Biden, Clinton and Bush, Obama widened the point beyond party labels.

“Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in, no less than I did,” he said.

The White House responded by turning attention back to the Obama center’s cost overruns and delays.

Davis Ingle, speaking for the White House, used the moment to draw a hard contrast with Trump’s own Washington renovation projects.

“President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify Washington, D.C., and our nation’s treasured monuments as we approach our historic 250th anniversary of independence,” Ingle said in a statement to Fox News.

“Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, these projects are being completed on time and under budget — a stark contrast to the errantly run Obama administration, which overspent and underdelivered.”

The center is scheduled to open to the public Friday, capping roughly 10 years of planning and construction.

Scrutiny over the project has followed its rising price tag, delays and public infrastructure spending, with Fox News reporting that costs listed at $830 million in 2021 have likely climbed past $1 billion.

Ingle said Trump’s own approach would leave Washington better maintained.

“President Trump is ensuring our nation’s capital will be properly honored and maintained in excellent condition for generations to come,” Ingle continued.

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