Biden reflects on presidency while giving Lawrence an exclusive Oval Office tour

Tell me about this photo. Well, this photo of my mom is 92 years old, and my mom was one of those women who all my friends kind of wished that she was their mother. No, I'm serious. Yeah, I know. We had mothers like that in my neighborhood. That's right. That was President Biden showing me around the Oval Office Thursday evening after our interview. We'll show you more of that video in just a moment. After President Biden's last half day in the presidency, he spoke to the White House staff before boarding the presidential aircraft known as Air Force One, only when the president is on the plane for his final flight out of Washington. Wow. Folks, I came to thank you. You know, I don't think we could have done anything. I know we couldn't have done anything we did without you. Kamala and Doug and members of the Cabinet, all the staff that's here, all across all the agencies and friends, supporters, Joe and I are forever grateful to you. I mean that. We're genuinely grateful. And we chose the best damn team in the world. Here's more of my chat with President Biden in the Oval Office on his last Thursday in that office last week. That's election night, 2008. That's the 2008. So my mom, she grabbed his book. Look at the smile on his face. Oh, yeah. She's holding the president-elect's hand and the vice president-elect's hand. I forget the hotel, but we were on the 23rd floor and his kids were on the 24th floor, waiting for the results, whatever it was, one floor apart. And my number two and three granddaughter, his number one and two daughters, best buddies. They went to school from fourth grade on and they still see each other a lot. And so anyways, what happened was that I had gotten a call when Barack beat me like a broom when I tried to get the nomination. In the primaries. So I'm riding home one night. I'm getting through the Baltimore Tunnel, going back to Delaware. My phone rings. It's Barack. And to paraphrase, and he said, Joe, I want to do a background check on you. I said, Barack, I don't want to be vice president. I don't want to be vice president. And he said, well, it's only, and he finally said, that's only you. And I said, Barack, I don't want it. He said, go home and talk over your family. He knew my family. And so my mother, we went, sat down and my dad had passed away. My mom had moved in with us by then. And we're sitting on the back porch and it's in the middle of August. And I turned to Joe. I said, what do you think I should do? He said, I think you should do it. I said, really? She said, if you don't, he'll ask you. The secretary's taking him away all the time. I'm sure he got it. And then my two sons gave me the lecture about why I had to. My daughter and all, and we went all through it. And I still didn't want to do it. The only non-family member there was Ted Kaufman, who's a great friend. He's a real fine man. Anyway, so my mom's sitting on the back porch with a, it's an oval. And there's a steel, a wrought iron railing and it drops off about 10 feet. And about 20 yards on, there's a pond. That's not ours, but it's a pond. And so my mom's sitting there. She hadn't said a word. I walked over and I said, what do you think I should do, honey? And I said, everybody here. She said, Joe, remember when you were 14 years old and they were desegregating the Menfield and Suburban neighborhood? And I told you not to go down there because people were protesting. You went down. And they brought you back because you were standing on the front porch of the black family. She said, yeah, mom, I remember that. But what if they brought you home because they were worried about you? She said, yeah. So then you had that job at that country club as a lifeguard. It really wasn't a country club. It was a private swimming club. And I said, yeah, mom. She said, you decided you wanted to be the only white guy to work on the projects? And you were the only white guy that worked as a lifeguard with 12 of them for a couple of years? She said, yeah, mom. I just wanted to get to know what's going on. She said, let me get this straight. It goes like this. First black man has a chance to be president. I asked you. You told me he's really smart, honorable, and tough. And he needs you to help him win. And you told him no? Swear to God. That's what that picture is of. Now they say the next president and vice president of the United States. And my mom grabs his hand and look, look, look at his face. She's like, come on, honey. He's going to be OK. He's not even supposed to go out. Oh, that's right. I remember her. Do you remember your first time in this room? I think during the Carter administration. I came in here. I think the first time I came in this room was. I guess it was maybe it was. Nixon had been gone, but I came in here. I can't remember why, but I came through the White House when he was president. But then I think maybe the first time I was in here was. Many of the time was Ford. But that's why I came in here. By the time Reagan was president, I was here. Matter of fact, Reagan was supposed to have been losing it. You know, at the end, we'd be a Supreme Court nominee. It was very controversial. I led the fight to defeat him and Bork. And so I got a phone call from Reagan. Can you come down and talk about what you want to do, what we're going to do on the Supreme Court? After you beat him. After we beat him. So I came down and remember Howard Baker was a good friend. He was the chief of staff. And so Reagan always sat in the chair on that side. Most presidents sit in the chair on this side. So I'm sitting in the chair and the chief of staff's on the couch there. And he said, who do you want, Joe? It's Mr. President. Ours is to propose. Ours is to dispose. You tell me and I'll tell you what the honest chances are. And so he long story, but five or six takes a card out of his pocket. He has 10 names on it. And he reads off the five from the first three or four most conservative members. So I think they'd have real trouble, Mr. President. And he gets down to the fourth or fifth one, he said. And he said, so-and-so Supreme Court, California. I said, well, based on what I know about him, he's a pretty mainstream guy. I think he'd have a shot. He said, I mean, you're for him. It's Mr. President. I don't know that. And he kept saying that. So I kidded with Howard. I said, Howard, tell him. And so next thing you know, Reagan says, you got a minute, Joe? And I kiddingly said, I'm really busy, Mr. President. He takes me by the hand, walks me to the coffee table. He was there, walks me to that door, opens the door. And he said, he's with you. The whole time. Wow, that's amazing. You know, my first time in this room was with President Clinton when we were working on a tax bill, was up here with Chairman Moynihan. And we were struggling with a piece that we couldn't get. And so it was the most difficult kind of meeting because it was reporting to him. We don't have the votes. He's going to basically, he's going to have to change his mind, which he did and did very smoothly. It's the kind of most difficult kind of session you could imagine having or I could imagine having in here. But I remember every time I've walked through a door into this room, every time. It absolutely never gets old. I'm obviously going to remember this. For you, did this become the place you go to work? Did you get to sit down here and just feel? Well, I guess because I had been here so many times as Chairman of Foreign Relations and Chairman of the Judiciary. But it still kind of blows you away. Like, for example, when I walked in the first time, the incoming president never, you're supposed to be out here by 10 or 11 on the 20th when you're the incumbent leaving. And you're not supposed to come in until three or four or whatever it is. And so, but he never was around. So it didn't matter. Anyway, we came in and I knew we were going to be backed up. I asked my brother, Jim, who has better taste than I do. Look, the only thing I know I want is a resident desk and a blue rug. And I want a bust of the two heroes I had as a kid, as a young elected. And that was with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I said, I want to be able to see them. That was it. So I come walking in the day we're going to take over the office. I'm standing by the desk and John Meacham, my brother, called John for advice. And first thing I said, Roosevelt. I said, I admire him, but why Roosevelt? Meacham spoke up and said, because no, paraphrase me, no one has ever inherited a more, an economy more out of shape than he did, than you. So that's wonderful. And I said, and over there's Lincoln. So why Lincoln? Simply because the nation has never been as divided since the Civil War. I said, I'm getting the hell out of here. Anyway, that was the first time I was in here. I'm getting the signal to get out of here. Thank you very, very much for every minute of this. Really appreciate it. Thank you.