On Thursday’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Vice President Joe Biden said he is not yet ready to run for president in 2016.
Biden explained that he’s still mourning the loss of son Beau, who died of brain cancer in May.
“I don’t think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and, two, they can look at folks out there and say, ‘I promise you: you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy and my passion to do this,'” Biden told host Colbert. “And I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there,” Biden continued, according to a press pool report.
Watch the video above.
The effort to get Biden to enter the 2016 race has picked up steam since New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported in August that Beau lobbied his father to run in an effort to prevent the presidency from returning to the Clintons. Hillary Clinton’s recent dwindling poll numbers have only added a sense of urgency to a Biden run.
But the vice president has said he and his family may not have the emotional strength to make a run for the White House in light of his son’s death.
Also Read: Stephen Colbert to Interview Joe Biden on 'Late Show'
“Nobody has a right in my view to seek [the presidency] unless they’re willing to give it 110 percent,” Biden told Colbert. “And I am — as I said, I’m optimistic, I’m positive about where we’re going,” Biden continued. “But I find myself — you understand it — sometimes it just overwhelms you.”
Watch the first part of Biden and Colbert’s interview here, where the two get emotional discussing similar tragedies suffered in both of their lives.
2016 Presidential Contenders: The Race to the White House (Photos)
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
-
Getty Images
