(Politics. On Point) - Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will not run in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Said Biden, "As my family and I have worked through the grieving process, I’ve said all along what I've said time and again to others, that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for President, that it might close. I've concluded it has closed", he said.
The Bidens lost their son Beau earlier this year, an event that some said would be reason the vice president would run for president, but the vice president made his position, and decison, clear.
"Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time -- the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination", he said. "But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation."
The vice president quickly moved the spotlight of a potential presidential run to issues currently facing American. In a moment of pope-ism he touched on many of the malladies facing America:
"I also believe we need to keep moving forward in the arc of this nation toward justice -- the rights of the LGBT community, immigration reform, equal pay for women and protecting their safety from violence, rooting out institutional racism. At their core, every one of these things -- every one of these things is about the same thing. It’s about equality. It’s about fairness. It’s about respect. As my dad used to say, it’s about affording every single person dignity. It’s not complicated. Every single one of these issues is about dignity."
Raw video - Washington Post
Biden also said that America is capable of extraordinary things. "We can do so much", he said.
Republicans have tried to thwart much of the legislation the Obama administration has tried to pass and continues to seek a replacement for its current speaker, John Boehner, who plans to step down later this year.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) sent out an email Tuesday titled, "I've had it with Congressional Republicans", perhaps indicating her frustration with the Republican party.
Her email states, "From playing politics with women's access to health care to using the tragedy in Benghazi as a partisan stunt, Republicans are giving Congress a bad name -- and I've had it."
[Democratic presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, testifies on Captial Hill on Benghazi Thursday].
While Wasserman Schultz may have "had it" with Republicans, VP Biden is optimistic and said that the Republicans aren't the enemy.
"I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies", Biden said. "They are our opposition; they’re not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together."
On being president, Biden made clear what that would be.
"If I could be anything, I would want it to be the president that ended cancer."
Biden lauded the record of President Obama and urged Democrats to defend the president's record.
"I believe that President Obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery, and we're now on the cusp of resurgence. I'm proud to have played a part in that", Biden said.
"This party, our nation will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the Obama legacy. The American people have worked too hard and we've come too far for that. Democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on the record."
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Said Biden, "As my family and I have worked through the grieving process, I’ve said all along what I've said time and again to others, that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for President, that it might close. I've concluded it has closed", he said.
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| Vice President Biden, along with President Obama and wife Dr. Jill Biden, in the Rose Garden of the White House Wednesday as Biden announces he is not running for president. Photo/CD Brown |
"Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time -- the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination", he said. "But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation."
The vice president quickly moved the spotlight of a potential presidential run to issues currently facing American. In a moment of pope-ism he touched on many of the malladies facing America:
"I also believe we need to keep moving forward in the arc of this nation toward justice -- the rights of the LGBT community, immigration reform, equal pay for women and protecting their safety from violence, rooting out institutional racism. At their core, every one of these things -- every one of these things is about the same thing. It’s about equality. It’s about fairness. It’s about respect. As my dad used to say, it’s about affording every single person dignity. It’s not complicated. Every single one of these issues is about dignity."
Raw video - Washington Post
Biden also said that America is capable of extraordinary things. "We can do so much", he said.
Republicans have tried to thwart much of the legislation the Obama administration has tried to pass and continues to seek a replacement for its current speaker, John Boehner, who plans to step down later this year.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) sent out an email Tuesday titled, "I've had it with Congressional Republicans", perhaps indicating her frustration with the Republican party.
Her email states, "From playing politics with women's access to health care to using the tragedy in Benghazi as a partisan stunt, Republicans are giving Congress a bad name -- and I've had it."
[Democratic presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, testifies on Captial Hill on Benghazi Thursday].
"I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies", Biden said. "They are our opposition; they’re not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together."
On being president, Biden made clear what that would be.
"If I could be anything, I would want it to be the president that ended cancer."
Biden lauded the record of President Obama and urged Democrats to defend the president's record.
"I believe that President Obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery, and we're now on the cusp of resurgence. I'm proud to have played a part in that", Biden said.
"This party, our nation will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the Obama legacy. The American people have worked too hard and we've come too far for that. Democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on the record."
Politics. On Point. © 2015 All rights reserved.
Grow your business. Advertise on Politics. On Point.
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