Biden rules out run for president in 2016
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden announced he won’t be a candidate in the 2016 White House campaign, saying there’s not enough time for him to mount a campaign to win the Democratic nomination.
Standing under a bright sun in the White House Rose Garden, Biden spoke about mourning the recent death of his son Beau, a process that he said is out of sync with the political calendar. While he said his family members were emotionally prepared to undertake a grueling presidential campaign, they arrived at that decision too late for him to mount a credible bid for a job that has long been a goal.
“Unfortunately, I believe we’re out of time,” said Biden, flanked by his wife, Jill, and President Barack Obama.
Interest in Biden’s potential candidacy was fueled both by an outpouring of affection after his son died of cancer in May and by persistent questions about Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s viability, particularly after revelations about her email use at the State Department.
In a written statement Wednesday, Clinton praised Biden’s “unyielding faith in America’s promise” and said she expected he would “always be on the front lines, always fighting for all of us.” The two spoke by phone shortly after the vice president concluded his remarks.
“Joe Biden is a good man
and a great vice president,” she said. Praising his “passion for our country” and his “devotion to family,” she credited him for a record of fighting for the middle class. “And I’m confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont also running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said in a statement Wednesday that Biden “has made the decision that he feels is best for himself, his family and the country.” Sanders also thanked the vice president for “a lifetime of public service and for all that he has done for our nation.”
With just 15 weeks until the Iowa caucuses open the voting, Biden did not endorse a candidate in the Democratic race. Instead, he delivered a 13-minute speech in which he decried the role of big money in politics and touted the importance of reducing income inequality and making college education more accessible.
He also repeated a veiled criticism of Clinton that had crept into his speeches in recent days, saying Democrats should not view Republicans as their enemies.
“They are our opposition; they’re not our enemies,” Biden said, repeating a point he has made several times in the 48 hours before his announcement. “And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.”
Clinton said in the first Democratic debate of the 2016 campaign that she was proud to count the GOP among the enemies she’s made during her political career.
Biden also argued against intervention in the Middle East and elsewhere. “The argument that we just have to do something when bad people do bad things isn’t good enough,” he said. “It’s not a good enough reason for American intervention and to put our sons’ and daughters’ lives on the line, put them at risk.”
On the Republican side of the presidential campaign, billionaire businessman Donald Trump praised Biden and took a poke at Clinton in a single tweet: “I think Joe Biden made correct decision for him & his family. Personally, I would rather run against Hillary because her record is so bad.”
Biden’s announcement came after months of discussions with his family and political advisers about entering the race. He passed multiple deadlines and appeared to send mixed signals to supporters, including an email from a longtime aide to former staff members last week that appeared to lay out the rationale for a Biden candidacy.
However, those familiar with Biden’s deliberations said it became increasingly clear in recent days that he would have faced substantial logistical challenges in mounting a campaign this late in the primary process.
Aides said the vice president made his final decision Tuesday night.
During his final 15 months as vice president, aides said, Biden plans to immerse himself in a new national effort to cure cancer, a cause for which he has a personal attachment after the death of his son.
“We intend — the whole family, not just me — we intend to spend the next 15 months fighting for what we’ve always cared about, what my family’s always cared about, with every ounce of our being,” he said.
Beau was the second child Biden had lost: His 13-monthold daughter, Naomi, and his first wife, Neilia, died in a car accident decades ago.
At the wake for his son,
Biden told friends that Beau, in his final days, had said he hoped his father would run for president. Biden shared that story repeatedly in the weeks to follow.
“Beau is our inspiration,” Biden, who turns 73 next month, said in his remarks in the Rose Garden. But despite the grieving process, Biden said his family had nonetheless blessed another run for the White House, if he had decided to make it.
Even as he signaled the end of his political career that began with his election to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, Biden made clear he had no plans to quietly fade into the background.
“While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent,” he said.