Former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden appeared together in a video late on July 23 (Singapore time) talking to each other at length about the current state of America, the Covid-19 pandemic, race relations, possible remedies, a return to common decency, the upcoming presidential election, and the reforms in the system.

The 16-minute video, a refreshing take on what is ailing America and what can be done, took Facebook by storm as it racked up 1 million views within 45 minutes on Obama's own page.

Obama's dignified presence and soothing voice, as he and Biden spoke at length about what they did for America and what the presumptive Democratic nominee can do if he gets elected, provided a refreshing breath of authority and steadfastness to the proceedings.

This was another instance of Obama openly endorsing his former colleague in his race to the White House against current President Donald Trump who is seeking reelection.

The video, titled, "A Socially Distanced Conversation", was a clear rebuke of Trump, who has avoided wearing a mask, and his administration.

Throughout the video, Obama and Biden spoke about Trump without uttering his name once -- but it was clear they were referring to the current sitting president.

In a veiled barb directed at Trump, Obama said to Biden at one point: "And something that I've always admired about you, Joe, is you know, your willingness to listen and learn."

"It is a sign of leadership when you are willing to hear other people's experiences."

Here are some observations of the video.

Biden's lack of appearances in the media

Biden has been media-shy since June compared to Trump.

By the end of June, he had put news conferences on hold for 88 days.

He was effectively staying away from the public eye -- a move that is contrary to prescribed wisdom where presumptive nominees for each party would have to be out in the open a lot more.

Biden's lack of publicity has been a key strategy of his campaign: The more Trump has appeared in the media, the more polarised American society has become, the worse off Trump is doing according to nation-wide polls.

In effect, Biden is leading by virtually not doing anything.

In June, Trump held 21 interviews with specific news organisations, according to White House records.

Biden, by contrast, granted only five interviews in June.

Biden's surprise appearance with Obama has also made his talking points more memorable.

Biden and Obama wore masks

The video clearly showed Biden and Obama wearing masks without qualms, a contrast to Trump's persistently maskless image.

This signals putting the country's public health ahead of partisan political interests.

One snippet of Biden-Obama conversation had both of them going:

Biden: "Can you imagine standing up when you were president, saying, "It's not my responsibility"?

Obama: "Those words didn't come out of our mouths when we were in office."

Biden: "I don't understand his inability to get a sense of what people are going through."

Trump criticised for not being able to deal with current crisis

Obama talked about the early days of the financial crisis that his administration had to deal with in 2009.

Obama then highlighted that there are two crises in America today: Economic crisis and public health crisis.

Biden said of Obamacare: "But this guy's in court, in the middle of a pandemic, trying to take away protection from 100 million people who have preexisting conditions."

"I don't think he has any sense of empathy."

On the other hand, Obama gave Biden a ringing endorsement: "I have confidence that you are actually going to listen to the experts."

"And you're going to pay attention to the science, and you're not going to quit on trying to actually bend down the curve of disease and transmission rates."

Biden then reminisces about Obama and him setting up a pandemic office in the White House before they left to create early warning systems.

Obama said in another rebuke to Trump: "I know how deeply you care about American families and that any loss of life that is preventable, if you're President of the United States, it's your job to try to prevent it."

"And look you are absolutely right that it is hard to fathom anybody wanting to take away people's health care in the middle of a major public health crisis."

"At a time when unemployment is in the double digits."

You can watch the video in full here.