White House says Obama might take sides in a Biden vs. Clinton match-up

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 24 August 2015

Should Vice President Joe Biden opt to jump in the 2016 presidential race, Obama has a tough choice to make: Will he support his running mate, or his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton? While the easiest answer may be to simply endorse neither, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a Monday briefing that the notion of Obama endorsing a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary should not ruled out, as he does plan to vote in the Illinois primary.

Earnest would not, however, give an answer as to which candidate Obama would endorse, though he did speak quite fondly of Biden. "The president has indicated his view that the decision he made, I guess, seven years ago now, to add Joe Biden to the ticket as his running mate was the smartest decision that he had ever made in politics," Earnest said. "And I think that should give you some sense of the president's view of Vice President Biden's aptitude for the top job."