Politics –
Biden Not Running Is A Good Move

It’s the announcement the political world has been waiting an eternity to hear. On Wednesday, Vice-President Joe Biden confirmed he will NOT be a candidate for President of the United States.

Classy move, Joe!

Politics
In remarks from the White House Rose Garden, with his wife, Jill and President Obama by his side, Biden said the window for a successful campaign “has closed.”  He also acknowledged his family is still dealing with grief over the death of his son, Beau.

The decision not to run was perhaps one of the best moves of his political career. Here’s why.

Entering the race this late in the game would have been too steep of a hill to climb, particularly after Hillary Clinton’s strong showing at the recent Democratic Debate.

A recent CNN/ORC poll showed Biden 20 points behind the top 2 candidates, which is an enormous hole. He would have had to play catch up with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in grassroots organization, popularity and fundraising dollars. Because a vast number of top Democrats and donors already pledged their support to other candidates, Biden would have been starting at a deficit. That is not the formula to launching a successful campaign.

Joe Biden’s interest in the Oval Office in recent weeks was likely motivated by his dying son’s plea that he make a third run at the presidency. His emotional state at the moment of Beau Biden’s passing should not be a factor in deciding if he should become leader of the free world. That is just too huge of a decision for such a mournful moment.

Also, Barack Obama likely made a deal with the Clinton’s years ago that after 2 terms, he would get behind Hillary for POTUS — as sort of payback for all the in-person campaigning and donor support they lent him. Additionally, President Obama plucked budding Democratic star Julian Castro from his post as Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, so that he could become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development — predictably as a lead-up to becoming Hillary’s running mate. A Biden candidacy would have derailed most, if not all of those plans. It also would have forced President Obama into the awkwardness of watching his vice-president and former secretary of state battling to succeed him.

Finally, Joe Biden has enjoyed an illustrious political career, culminating with 8 years as THE right hand man (both personally and professionally) to America’s first African-American president. If Biden were to fail to secure the Democratic nomination, or fail to win the general election against the Republican candidate, it would have been an unpleasant final stamp on a lengthy career. Any failure to win may have also left him feeling emotionally guilty for not being successful in the promise he made to his late son.

Politics
Deciding not to run prevents Biden from setting himself up for possible failure. It gets out-of-the-way of what could be America’s first female president and first Hispanic vice-president. It keeps him from forcing himself to fulfill a death-bed promise, that was made with his heart and not with his head. Plus, it allows Biden to leave a political legacy as perhaps the most important and most involved Vice-President of the United States in history, instead of a 3 time failed presidential candidate.

For an almost 73-year-old man at the end of his political career, that is a perfect final chapter for the history books.

During his nationally televised White House speech, Biden positioned himself as a defender of the Obama legacy and made it clear that even though he is not running, he will not just sit on the sidelines and remain silent.

“While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent,” Biden said. “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.”

Those are absolutely perfect words and the perfect decision from the perfect elder statesman.

OK WASSUP! covers political news. Today’s article:
Here’s why Joe Biden’s decision not to run for president
was a good one.