President Joe Biden crashed first lady Jill Biden’s Teachers of the Year State Dinner, where the White House wined and dined top educators and teachers’ union leaders.
Stopping by the dinner wasn’t on the president’s public schedule, but shortly after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn after a day trip to North Carolina, Biden had joined the East Room guests.
The president uttered his favorite line – ‘I’m Jill Biden’s husband’ – and then tried to convince the crowed he belonged there too.
‘By the way I actually taught for a number of years in law school and then I was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,’ he said. ‘You don’t applaud that?’ he said when the roomful of teachers didn’t immediately clap.
Dr. Biden had invited the National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman of Tennessee, and the top teachers from every state and territory, as well as Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association.
President Joe Biden (left) crashed first lady Jill Biden’s (center) Teachers of the Year State Dinner, which was taking place in the East Room Thursday night. The appearance wasn’t on his public schedule
‘By the way I actually taught for a number of years in law school and then I was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,’ he said. ‘You don’t applaud that?’ he said when the roomful of teachers didn’t immediately clap.
Dr. Jill Biden welcomed her guests – the top teachers from every state and territory and union leaders – giving a hat tip to the teachers’ unions several times during her brief remarks
No celebrities were invited but some well-known faces from the administration were there, including second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten.
Chasten Buttigieg is a teacher by trade, while Emhoff teaches law at Georgetown.
During her remarks, Dr. Biden hat-tipped the teachers’ unions several times and had Weingarten and Pringle stand to receive applause from the crowd.
Both NEA and ATF endorsed Biden’s reelection campaign last year ahead of the Democratic primary.
‘We celebrate you because teaching isn’t just a job, it’s a calling and all of you are called to this profession for a reason,’ Dr. Biden said. ‘You believe that a better world is possible. And you make that world real.’
‘And none of that could happen without the support of our unions,’ she added.
She called her husband the ‘best education president.’
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, stands after she was recognized by first lady Jill Biden at Thursday night’s Teachers of the Year State Dinner
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff sat among the crowd during Thursday night’s Teachers of the Year State Dinner
Dr. Biden made history when she became the first lady as she decided to keep her day job – that of a college professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
‘Teaching is not what you do it’s who you are,’ the president said when he arrived as dinner plates were being carried out. ‘Believe me I know that,’ he said to laughs.
The president called it a ‘ludicrous notion’ that the U.S. couldn’t do more to improve education.
‘How can we be the most powerful, most meaningful country in the world without having the best education system in the world?’ Biden mused.
He then saw his way out.
‘So I just came by to say thank you,’ the president concluded. ‘And I’m going to get the hell out of here.’