U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden described himself on Thursday as overwhelmed by the recent death of his son and unconvinced he could commit fully to being President, in an emotional interview that cast a deep pall over his deliberations about jumping into the 2016 presidential race.
Asked on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” about entering a Democratic race that features frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Biden said he didn’t know if he was prepared to run following Beau Biden’s death in May to brain cancer.
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Mr. Biden said White House hopefuls must be able to promise voters they can commit their whole heart, soul, energy and passion, and said, “I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there.”
Mr. Biden had previously expressed doubts about whether he and his family have the emotional energy to run. Still, his blunt description of his own emotional frailty on Thursday marked the strongest indication yet that he may be leaning against running for the Democratic nomination.
The intense interest and speculation stirred up by the prospect of a Biden campaign has essentially frozen the Democratic race to succeed President Barack Obama, as Ms. Clinton and other candidates wait to see whether they’ll face another formidable contender. Recent national polls have suggested Mr. Biden could be competitive against Republican candidates, and that he’s more popular within his own party than Ms. Clinton in key primary States. Ms. Clinton has seen her poll numbers decline, amid intense scrutiny over her use of a private email account and server while serving as Secretary of State.
Mr. Biden, with a level of candour seen rarely in politics, told Mr. Colbert about an emotional breakdown during a recent visit to a military base when a well-wisher yelled out the name of his son and referenced his decorated military service in Iraq.
“All of a sudden, I lost it,” Mr. Biden said. “How could you that’s not I shouldn’t be saying this — You can’t do that.”
Since his son’s death, Mr. Biden has frequent peppered his speeches with references to Beau and the impressive resume the former Delaware Attorney-General developed in his 46 years. Mr. Biden went further in the interview, describing in detail conversations he had with Beau in the months before his death at a military hospital.
If Mr. Biden seemed unusually willing to bare his soul, it may have been due to his host. Mr. Colbert, the longtime Comedy Central star who this week took over David Letterman’s former role, lost his father and two brothers in a plane crash as a child. Mr. Biden invoked Mr. Colbert’s losses to make a point about how “there are so many other people going through this.”
“I feel self-conscious talking about it,” Mr. Biden said, looking down solemnly and occasionally wringing his hands.
As for the presidency, Mr. Biden told Mr. Colbert: “Nobody has a right, in my view, to seek that office unless they’re willing to give it 110 per cent of who they are. And I am, as I said, I’m optimistic, I’m positive about where we’re going. But I find myself you understand it sometimes it just overwhelms you.”
Decades ago, at the start of his political career, Mr. Biden lost his wife and infant daughter in a car crash that also injured Beau and his other son, Hunter. Asked by Mr. Colbert how he perseveres, Mr. Biden cited his Catholic faith and his determination to simply keep moving.
“I feel like I was letting down Beau, letting down my parents, letting down my family, if I didn’t just get up,” Mr. Biden said. “You’ve just got to get up.”
For his part, Colbert was unabashed in his support for a Biden campaign, praising him effusively for showing Americans “the real Joe Biden” and adding, “I think we’d all be very happy if you did run.”
The Vice-President once set an end-of-summer deadline to decide whether to run, but that outlook was reshuffled after his son died. In early August, Mr. Biden let it be known that he was actively considering a run.
More recently, Mr. Biden’s aides have said any announcement would likely slip into late September or early October, or possibly even later. The aides weren’t authorised to discuss the timeline publicly and requested anonymity.
Mr. Biden has already run for President twice before, including in 2008, when he fell short of Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton.
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