Former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at President Joe Biden’s state dinner for the president of Kenya.
Obama, dressed in a tuxedo, was attending a VIP reception in the Blue Room of the White House for Kenyan President William Ruto when he decided to drop into the glass pavilion on the South Lawn where the state dinner was being held.
The former president walked from the White House to the tent at the bottom of the White House lawn. He worked the room for about 10 minutes and left as President Biden was toasting. He left through a side door.
“He came over to the dinner area to say hello,” an Obama official said.
Biden acknowledged the fall of his predecessor.
‘Jill and I are honored to have you here and to be represented, including many members, of the African diaspora. One just left: Barack,” the president said at the end of his toast. “He met with the president very briefly this morning and here a while ago.”
Former President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talk at the Bidens’ state dinner for the Kenyan president.
Earlier on Thursday, Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, met with Ruto at Blair House, the ornate guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House where foreign dignitaries often stay.
The meeting, which Ruto confirmed in social media posts, was part of a busy schedule that included a ceremony on the South Lawn, a meeting in the Oval Office and a press conference in which Biden had to ask for various stage directions. times.
‘How have you been? Welcome to Washington. I hope everything goes well,’ Obama told Ruto at the end of the meeting at Blair House.
In his Facebook post, Ruto said he and the former president discussed “the opportunities available to Africa’s youth” as well as “democratic developments, climate and peace and security challenges in Africa.”
The Bidens hosted the Rutos for their sixth state dinner. With 500 guests, it was the largest of his administration to date.
Ruto thanked the Bidens for giving him and his wife Rachel a warm welcome.
“It is now my honor to ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to raise your glasses and join me in toasting the continued well-being and long life of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill, to the continued security and prosperity of the people of the United States, and to the enduring ties of friendship, partnership and solidarity between Kenya and the United States,” Ruto said.
Barack Obama was at a reception at the White House and decided to walk to the state dinner tent to say hello.
Biden left while President Joe Biden was toasting and slipped through a side door.
Former presidents are not usually invited to White House state dinners so as not to overshadow the current occupant of the Oval Office.
But the Bidens already broke that tradition last month by inviting former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Democratic candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to a dinner in honor of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
That opened the door for the Obamas to attend Thursday night’s state dinner with Kenya, especially given the former president’s family connection.
Obama and Ruto previously met in 2015 during President Obama’s visit to Kenya and while Ruto served as vice president.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden enter the outdoor pavilion with Kenyan President William Ruto and first lady Rachel Ruto.
Kenyan President William Ruto and President Biden toast at the top table.
The Howard University Gospel Choir performs in a glass pavilion on the South Lawn where the state dinner took place.
Obama made history as the country’s first black president when he was elected in 2008.
His mother was a white woman from Kansas, while his father was from Kenya.
Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., did not play an active role in his son’s life.
Obama Sr. returned to Kenya when the future president was just a few years old and the two only saw each other once more, when Barack was 10 years old.
Obama’s father died at age 48 in 1982 from injuries sustained in a car accident.
