In A Surprise Send-Off, President Obama Awards Biden Presidential Medal Of Freedom

In a surprise move Thursday afternoon, President Obama awarded outgoing Vice President Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Calling the former longtime Delaware senator "the best vice president America's ever had" and a "lion of American history," Obama gave his White House partner the award in an emotional ceremony, billed as a farewell.

After extolling the job that Biden has done, Obama ended it with the unexpected news that he was giving the vice president the nation's highest civilian honor, with distinction.

The two have enjoyed an unusually close working relationship over the past eight years, and Obama himself even joked at the outset of the ceremony that "this also gives the internet one last chance to talk about our 'bromance.'"

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.