In the waning days of his presidency, Obama surprised Biden by presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a White House ceremony. Obama called Biden “the best vice president America’s ever had” and a “lion of American history.”

Biden, filled with emotion at the gesture, praised Obama as a “remarkable man who did remarkable things for this country.” 

Obama joked that “this gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our ‘bromance.’”

Their dignified respect for one another is palpable and could be enough to influence Black voters who believe a Biden administration is one that will be similar to when Obama was in office. 

 During the Obama and Biden White House years, the pair attended outings, including several basketball games. One photo, now part of the Obama White House archives, shows them wearing huge grins and high-fiving each other after watching Sasha Obama, Obama’s youngest daughter, and Maisy Biden, the vice president’s granddaughter, playing a friendly game of hoops.  

It turns out, Obama and Biden may have hooped it up on occasion as well. In February 2014, Biden hosted a Black History Month event at the Naval Observatory in Washington, which was attended by former Sacramento Mayor and NBA star, Kevin Johnson. Biden told the audience that he had challenged Obama to a game.

“I told the President, next game, I’ve got him. I may be a white boy, but I can jump.”

At that event, attendees heard Biden respectfully acknowledge how several guests in attendance “have created and lived through the most fundamental, dynamic change in the entirety of the history of African Americans in the United States.”

With more than three decades of experience as a senator and later vice president, Biden knows D.C. politics like the back of his hand. He learned the best people to talk to and the art of crossing the aisle to win over support.

In his memoir, Promises to Keep, Biden said he prefers studying people than delving into throngs of reports. “It’s important to read reports and listen to the experts; more important is being able to read people in power,” Biden wrote.

Obama, the studious, Ivy-Leaguer, would read binders of information to educate himself on each issue before determining his way ahead. Although their approaches to learning public policy were different, they worked well as a team and with Kamala Harris having a similar approach and style to Obama, she could be the replacement to help balance Biden in that regard. 

Biden and Obama are each other’s wingmen.

Obama credits Biden for making him a better president. During Wednesday’s DNC speech, Obama said with Biden’s help, he was able to recover the economy and get the Affordable Health Care Act passed. As economic uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic continue to loom, especially within the Black community, Obama’s official mark of approval on Biden’s record could help motivate lackluster voters.

Obama initially had some worries about choosing Biden as his running mate. Biden is known to put his foot in his mouth once or twice and Obama is much more methodical. Black voters overwhelmingly trust Obama and thus have trusted Biden.

Together, “Barack and Joe filled in the spaces that were missing in the other man and created something bigger than their separate parts: young and old, black and white, they melded into a whole that was brainy, goofy, standoffish, gregarious,” Steve Levingston, the nonfiction book editor for The Washington Post, writes in his book “Barack and Joe.”

For even more highlights from BET’s coverage of Wednesday night’s official 2020 Democratic National Convention, click here.