{"id":29705,"date":"2017-01-13T21:22:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T21:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29705"},"modified":"2017-01-13T21:22:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T21:22:05","slug":"tearful-joe-biden-awarded-freedom-medal-by-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29705","title":{"rendered":"Tearful Joe Biden awarded freedom medal by Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"joe-biden\"International desk: President Barack Obama has awarded an emotional and surprised Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour.<\/p>\n

Mr Obama praised his vice-president for his \u201cfaith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and your lifetime of service\u201d.<\/p>\n

The award comes as both men prepare to leave office when Donald Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.<\/p>\n

Mr Biden has said he plans to stay active in Democratic Party politics.<\/p>\n

\u2018No inkling\u2019<\/p>\n

A visibly emotional Joe Biden stood by as Mr Obama heaped praise on what he called the \u201cbest possible choice, not just for me, but for the American people\u201d.<\/p>\n

The medal was awarded with distinction, according to the New York Times.<\/p>\n

That additional honour has been reserved in recent administrations for just a handful of recipients, including Pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n

Mr Obama joked that the internet would have one last chance to mock the pair\u2019s \u201cbromance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Biden and Obama jokes on Trump imagined<\/p>\n

Twitter users did that, with tears.<\/p>\n

Mr Biden said he was \u201cpart of the journey of a remarkable man who did remarkable things\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said that he had had no idea the award was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no inkling. I thought we were coming over to Michelle for you, Jill and Barack and I and a couple of senior staff to toast one another and say what an incredible journey it\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr President, you got right the part about my leaning on Jill but I\u2019ve also leaned on you and a lot of people in this room.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr President, I\u2019m indebted to you. I\u2019m indebted to your friendship. I\u2019m indebted to your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Obama said that Mr Biden\u2019s career was \u201cnowhere close to finished\u201d both at home or abroad.<\/p>\n

Mr Biden has said he plans to work on policy issues at institutes at the University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania, and continue his efforts tackling cancer, which claimed his son Beau in 2015.<\/p>\n

Mr Biden gave an hour-long interview with media outlets on Thursday in which he strongly criticised Mr Trump for his condemnation of the US intelligence services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really very damaging in my view to our standing in the world for a president to take one of the crown jewels of our national defence and denigrate it,\u201d Mr Biden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt plays into, particularly now, the Russian narrative that America doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he was full of praise for his successor, Mike Pence, saying he had sent him memos on how to handle certain situations. BBC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International desk: President Barack Obama has awarded an emotional and surprised Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour. Mr Obama praised his vice-president for his \u201cfaith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and your lifetime of service\u201d. The award comes as both men prepare to leave office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n