Barack Obama’s endorsement of Joe Biden is comedy gold.

Anyone who doubts that Barack Obama has a sense of humor should take a look of his endorsement of Joe Biden to be president of the United States. Really, it’s a masterly performance, and delivered, mirabile dictu, with a straight face. Try it yourself. Grab a mirror. Assume your best ‘I’m-being-serious-and-sincere’ expression. Then say out loud that Joe Biden would bring ‘leadership guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace’ to the Capital.

How’d you do? Crack a smile? Of course you did. Because when Obama said ‘knowledge and experience’ you thought about Biden’s painful struggle to get through the opening of the Declaration of Independence (‘You know, the thing’). When he mentioned ‘honesty’, you thought about his plagiarism and all the ways he and his family have enriched themselves through shady dealings, often with ideological opponents like China. When he mentioned ‘humility’, you thought about Biden’s habit of bragging about everything from getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating his son fired to taking credit for writing the PATRIOT Act. And then there are the qualities of ’empathy and grace.’ What can we say? Take a look at this compilation of graceful moments, or this, or this.