Look who’s back! Barack Obama makes surprise appearance at Joe Biden’s White House state dinner for Kenya

Former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at President Joe Biden’s state dinner for the president of Kenya.

Obama was attending a VIP reception in the Blue Room of the White House for Kenyan President William Ruto, wearing a tuxedo, when he decided to stop by the glass pavilion on the South Lawn where the state dinner was taking place.

The former president walked from the White House to the tent on the lower part of the White House lawn. He worked in the room for about ten minutes and left as President Biden gave his toast. He slipped out through a side door.

“He came into the dining room to say hello,” an Obama official said.

Biden acknowledged the arrival of his predecessor.

“Jill and I are honored that you are here and that you, including many members, represent the African diaspora. One just left: Barack,” the president said at the top of his toast. “He met with the president very briefly this morning, and here a little while ago.”

Earlier Thursday, Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, met with Ruto at Blair House, the ornate guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House that often hosts foreign dignitaries.

The meeting, which Ruto confirmed in social media posts, was squeezed into a busy schedule that included a South Lawn ceremony, an Oval Office meeting and a press conference that required Biden to request stage directions several times.

‘How have you been? Welcome to Washington. I hope everything goes well,” Obama told Ruto at the start of the Blair House meeting.

In his Facebook post, Ruto said he and the former president discussed “the opportunities available to the youth of Africa,” as well as “democratic developments, climate, peace and security challenges in Africa.”

The Bidens hosted the Rutos for their sixth state dinner. With 500 invited guests, it was the largest of their administration to date.

Ruto thanked the Bidens for the warm welcome they gave him and his wife Rachel.

“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 lives of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill, to the continued security and prosperity of the people of the United States. United States, and on the enduring bonds 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 tent where the state dinner was being held to say hello

Biden left as President Joe Biden delivered his toast and slipped out through a side door

Former presidents are generally not invited to state dinners at the White House so as not to overshadow the current occupant of the Oval Office.

But the Bidens bucked 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 the state dinner with Kenya on Thursday evening, largely because of the former president’s family ties.

Obama and Ruto previously met in 2015 during President Obama’s visit to Kenya and while Ruto was serving 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 head 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 saw each other only once, when Barack was 10.

The elder Obama died in 1982 at the age of 48 from injuries sustained in a car accident.