Early on Thursday evening, three presidents walked into a theater. At Radio City Music Hall in New York, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama joined President Joe Biden for a spectacular fundraiser attended by more than 5,000 people.
Its success was assured even before the three men took the stage: According to reports, “An Evening with President Biden and Presidents Obama and Clinton” had brought in $25 million, a record-breaking sum for any presidential fundraiser. The event’s big draw, beyond supporting President Biden in his second-term run, and seeing him speak with two other presidents? A pretty stellar lineup of musical guests, including Cynthia Erivo, Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Lea Michele, and Ben Platt, all emceed by Mindy Kaling. Plus, there was a panel discussion moderated by Stephen Colbert.
Earlier in the day, President Biden and Obama had flown in to JFK Airport together aboard Air Force One before driving to Manhattan, where crowds were gathered on 6th Avenue. Inside Radio City, the concession stands swapped out refreshments for Biden-Harris merch, and a cocktail hour took place in the lobby. Those attendees hoping for a chance to shake the hand of a president were in luck: For a select group of donors, there was also the opportunity to commemorate the evening with a picture—though it was far from your typical presidential photo opp, because this was not your typical political fundraiser. Guests had the thrill of getting their portrait taken with all three presidents at once. And the photographer? None other than Annie Leibovitz. Needless to say, that set a high bar for what was still to come.
Just over an hour later, everyone filed into the theater for the show. First to the stage were New York’s own Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader of the United States Senate. “Folks, reelect Joe Biden as president and put Hakeem Jeffries as speaker,” Schumer told the activated audience. “The next four years will be even better than these—you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Next, Dr. Jill Biden walked on to Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” and thanked everyone in the theater for helping to make the evening a fundraising record-breaker. She introduced Lizzo, who launched into a rousing rendition of “About Damn Time”—about halfway through which she was helpfully handed a flute by Michael Kors.
Mindy Kaling then came out to welcome the rest of the incredible performers and crack some jokes (“When I say Mr. President, three people will answer!”), before Colbert led a compelling conversation between Biden, Obama, and Clinton with tact, grace, and a lot of laughter.
Colbert kicked things off with a series of delightfully mordant questions, among them: “All three of you have been on Air Force One… that’s made by Boeing, right?” “Do any of you have plans to sell golden sneakers?” and “Is it nice to live in the White House, or do you always feel like you're in a museum?”
Colbert’s keen sense of humor inspired the same from Biden, Obama, and Clinton. Asked, for instance, about some of his earliest lessons after taking the Oval Office, Biden replied, “Harry Truman said [when] you’re president, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. I got one, but he bit the Secret Service agents.”
“I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time with you and your wife,” Colbert said at another point, addressing Obama. “She’s repeatedly asked me to call her Michelle…So my question is, to Presidents Biden and Clinton: Don’t you think I should be able to call him Barack?” To that, Obama had an immediate response: “Your wife can,” he deadpanned. “I like her.”
However, Colbert intermingled these bits of levity with heavier and more timely questions about the state of the world, aware that the audience was eager to hear Biden’s opinion on a variety of matters. Among them was Israel’s war with Hamas, which had inspired protestors to assemble outside of Radio City ahead of the event.
“We must, in fact, stop the effort that is resulting in significant deaths of innocent civilians and particularly children,” Biden said. And in response to Colbert’s question about what’s at stake in the 2024 presidential election? “I think our democracy is at stake, [and that’s] not a joke,” Biden replied. “I wasn’t gonna run in 2020, because I just lost my son Beau a little earlier—until I watched what happened down in Virginia, when those folks came out of the fields carrying torches and Nazi flags, accompanied by white supremacists…I think a lot is at stake.”
The discussion then turned to taxes, the economy, and the job market. Clinton noted that Biden had “created roughly twice as many jobs [as his predecessor]. I believe in keeping score, not in a vindictive way, but in a positive way. He’s been good for America.”
Then, at a particularly poignant moment in the evening, Obama likened the legacy linking Clinton, himself, and Biden to a relay race, with each one of them getting further along in bettering America. “Sometimes we forget where we started and where we are now,” he said, adding that besides the record-breaking job growth during the Biden administration, voters should also bear in mind that unemployment among Black Americans had hit a record low over the last four years.
As the hour wound down, Colbert had one more question for the president. “I just want to ask you before we go, sir: A lot of people do impressions of you. Have you seen my impression of you?” Soon, he’d slipped on a pair of gold-rimmed aviator glasses. “Gentlemen, do you care to join us in our impression?” he asked.
With that, each president whipped out their own pair of Biden-esque sunglasses and rose to bid the audience a good night, as a wave of iPhones popped out to capture the delightful sight. The perfect caption of their photos? The future is looking bright for the Democratic Party.
