Obama back in the White House: Former president holds quiet meeting with Kenyan president, then talks with Bill Clinton and Biden at private VIP reception

Former President Barack Obama met quietly with Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday on the sidelines of the White House state dinner with President Joe Biden.

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.

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

The former president later headed across the street to the White House to attend a private VIP reception at the residence — along with former President Bill Clinton — but was not expected to stay for the official state dinner.

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

Former President Barack Obama (left) visited Kenyan President William Ruto (right) at Blair House, the official presidential guesthouse across the street from the White House

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.”

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.

However, instead of attending the main event, the ex-president opted for the Blair House meeting with Ruto and the private reception.

The two men previously met in 2015 during President Obama’s visit to Kenya and when Ruto was vice president.

Kenyan media captured former President Barack Obama (right) greeting Kenyan President William Ruto (left) during a meeting at Blair House on Thursday

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.