Joe Biden is certain he 'would have been the best president'

While Vice President Joe Biden says he knows 2016 wasn't the right time for him to run for president, he still can't seem to stop thinking about the possibility. Biden told ABC News in an interview that aired Wednesday that before his son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in May 2015, he had every intention of launching a bid for the Democratic nomination. "I had planned on running," Biden said. "It's an awful thing to say. I think I would have been the best president."
But his decision to pass on the presidency was "the right thing, not just for my family, [but] for me," Biden admitted. "No one should ever seek the presidency unless they're able to devote their whole heart and soul and passion into just doing that," he said. "And Beau was my soul. I just wasn't ready to be able to do that."
Biden is optimistic his "cancer moonshot" will bring him similar satisfaction. He hopes that in just five years, if someone is diagnosed with the illness his son was diagnosed with, they'll survive. "It's kind of bittersweet," he said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watch Biden's interview with ABC News, below. Becca Stanek
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Evita: 'TikTok musical theatre' or 'total triumph'?
Talking Point Rachel Zegler dazzles in Jamie Lloyd's 'radically reconceived' revival – but the plot is difficult to follow
-
Netflix and the second screen phenomenon
In The Spotlight Programme makers claim they're being asked to cater for distracted viewers
-
How will Labour pay for welfare U-turn?
Today's Big Question A dramatic concession to Labour rebels has left the government facing more fiscal dilemmas
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final day
Speed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump