President Joe Biden crashed first lady Jill Biden’s Teachers of the Year State Dinner, where the White House dined top educators and teachers union leaders.
Stopping by the dinner was not on the president’s public agenda, 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 said his favorite line – “I am Jill Biden’s husband” – and then tried to convince the crow that he belonged there too.
“By the way, I taught law school for a number of years and then I was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” he said. “You don’t approve of that?” ‘ he said when the room full of teachers didn’t immediately clap.
Dr. Biden had invited National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman of Tennessee, and the top teachers from each 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 took place Thursday evening in the East Room. The performance was not on his public agenda
“By the way, I taught law school for a number of years and then I was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” he said. “You don’t approve of that?” ‘ he said when the room full of teachers didn’t immediately clap.
Dr. Jill Biden welcomed her guests – top teachers from each state and territory and union leaders – and gave several hat tips to the teachers unions during her brief remarks
No celebrities were invited, but some well-known faces from government were in attendance, including Second Gen. Doug Emhoff and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten.
Chasten Buttigieg is a teacher by profession, while Emhoff teaches law at Georgetown.
During her remarks, Dr. Biden took several jabs at the teachers unions and left Weingarten and Pringle standing to receive applause from the crowd.
Both NEA and ATF supported Biden’s re-election campaign last year, ahead of the Democratic primaries.
“We celebrate you because teaching is not just a job, it is a calling and all of you were called to this profession for a reason,” Dr. Biden said. ‘You believe that a better world is possible. And you make that world a reality.’
“And none of this could happen without the support of our unions,” she added.
She called her husband the “best education president.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, stands after being recognized by first lady Jill Biden at the Teachers of the Year State Dinner Thursday evening
Sophomore Doug Emhoff sat among the crowd Thursday evening at the Teachers of the Year State Dinner
Dr. Biden made history when she became the first lady when she decided to keep her day job: that of a college professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
“Teaching isn’t what you do, it’s who you are,” the president said as he arrived as the signs were being set up. “Believe me, I know,” he said, laughing.
The president called it a “ridiculous idea” that the US could not do more to improve education.
“How can we be the most powerful, most meaningful country in the world without the best education system in the world?” Biden mused.
Then he saw his way out.
“So I just came by to thank you,” the president concluded. “And I’m going to get out of here.”