WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden did what he had to do in his State of the Union address on Thursday night. And then, it was party time.
Just seconds after stepping down from the dais in the House chamber, as most news networks pulled their cameras away, Biden was playfully saluting people in the audience and shouting out jokes.
“Hey Bobby! I didn’t embarrass you, did I?” he said to laughs from someone nearby. It was possibly Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who Biden mentioned in his national address.
The House chamber was packed with so many of his old friends, former colleagues, his judicial and executive appointments, and even critics who wanted to talk to him. And Biden, all smiles, was here for it. He spent the next half an hour talking to anyone in earshot, taking selfies, telling stories and weighing in on climate change, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, border security, reproductive rights and whatever other policy topics people threw his way.
HuffPost caught most of these details by watching bits of livestreams that were still going and hearing him on hot mics.
“Thank you for mentioning climate change,” said Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), the first person to get to Biden when he stepped into the crowd.
“That’s why I’m working so hard,” Biden replied, referencing Democrats taking back the House. “I’m going to do whatever I can.”
“You were the Baptist preacher tonight!” chimed in Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).
Biden leaned in and started telling a story about someone in “Del-a-WARRR,” or Delaware, who offered to campaign for him but only in certain places, because “in some places you’ll help, in some places you’ll hurt.” Meeks and others laughed at the end.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was near the front, eager to shake his hand. So was Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), an actual Baptist preacher.
“That was a sermon tonight!” he told the president.
“Thank you, man,” said Biden, before shaking someone else’s hand and pointing at him. “You…
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