Former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden refused to rule out a run at the U.S. presidency in 2020 in a pair of interviews published Wednesday.
“I haven’t decided to run, but I’ve decided I’m not going to decide not to run,” he told Vanity Fair. “We’ll see what happens.”
READ MORE: Joe Biden to release book on son’s death, called ‘Promise Me, Dad’
The 74-year-old seemed excited by the idea as he told InStyle magazine that “this moment in American history sort of fits into my wheelhouse and the strengths I have.”
“I am, I think most people would say, fairly knowledgeable about American foreign policy. I’m pretty good at diplomacy internationally and bringing people together, cutting through and settling things.”
WATCH: Joe Biden speaks out about sexual assault on U.S. college campuses
He cautioned that there was still almost a full term before 2020.
“Look,” he told InStyle Magazine. “I learned a long time ago that, first, three and a half years is two lifetimes in presidential politics.”
He also said that his family is still coping with the loss of his son Beau, who died in 2015 from cancer.
“I’m sure other families have had this experience, but the loss of Beau was a devastating blow,” Biden said.
Biden was asked if he was considering a run in 2016 before Beau died.
- Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties
- Norad looking to NATO to help detect threats over the Arctic, chief says
- Grocery code: How Ottawa has tried to get Loblaw, Walmart on board
- Military judges don’t have divided loyalties, Canada’s top court rules
READ MORE: Joe Biden to announce PAC, signals potential 2020 run for president
“No question,” he told Vanity Fair. “I had planned on running, and I wasn’t running against Hillary or Bernie or anybody else. Honest to God, I thought that I was the best suited for the moment to be president.”
The Vanity Fair article notes that political advisor Mike Donilon had prepared a 22-page memo on Biden’s potential candidacy which essentially stated the election was his to lose as he had a connection with middle-class voters.
The former vice-president also revealed that his son’s death was not the only reason he sat out the 2016 presidential election.
He had also met with Hillary Clinton who told him she was going to run. He still had not made up his mind but during his weekly chats with Barack Obama, the former U.S. president was said to have left an impression Biden should stay out of Clinton’s way for the good of the Democratic Party.
Biden has a memoir coming out Nov. 14 which will be called Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.
Comments