WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden teased his expected reelection run while honoring celebrities at the White House on Tuesday, with pointed quips to singer Bruce Springsteen and author Colson Whitehead.
“Bruce, some people are just born to run, man,” Biden said at an event where he bestowed 23 recipients with the nation’s highest awards for advancing the arts and humanities.
Biden has not yet officially announced his reelection campaign but has said he intends to run.
Biden praised Whitehead as “one of the first and only novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for back-to-back works.” “How in the hell did you do that?” Biden asked.
“Pretty good, man. I’m kind of looking for back-to-back myself,” he added, to laughter and cheers from the audience in the East Room.
Biden awarded medals to authors Amy Tan and Ann Patchett, fashion designer Vera Wang and actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mindy Kaling among others.
The president called the honorees who received the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal truth tellers, bridge builders and change seekers. “Above all, you’re masters of your craft,” he said.