Obama honors ‘my brother’
President Barack Obama surprised Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday by bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on him, calling Biden “my brother” in a tearful goodbye at the White House. Having called Biden and his wife, Jill, to the White House for a private farewell, the president instead brought him into a room filled with his friends, family and colleagues to present him with the honor, the nation’s highest. For the first time, Obama awarded the medal with distinction, an added level of veneration that previous presidents had reserved for recipients like Pope John Paul II.
