Joe Biden is still kicking the tires.
Boston.com (“Joe Biden, in public and private, tiptoes toward a 2020 run“):
Former Vice President Joe Biden is tiptoeing toward a potential run in 2020, even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides.
Huddled in his newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began a planning meeting for his new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room. He said he was keeping his 2020 options open, considering it a real possibility. He insisted he had made no decision, and didn’t need to yet, according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did.
Biden also expressed interest in bringing those in the room onto his team if he decides to launch a campaign. At the same time, he gave them an out: There would be no hard feelings if they decided they were content in their current roles outside of government, said the people, who demanded anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
Let’s acknowledge that “tiptoeing,” “broaching,” and “the possibility” is a hell of a lot of qualifiers for the lead sentence. But it’s obvious that he wishes he’d run in 2016—or at least that he was President right now instead of Donald Trump.
While my politics and Biden’s aren’t the same, I’ve liked him a long time. He’s a genuinely decent man and he’s certainly well qualified for the presidency. But Trump is the oldest president we’ve ever had and Biden is almost four years older than Trump. He’d be 78 at his inauguration–older than Ronald Reagan, previously the oldest President at first inauguration, when he finished his second term. It’s time for some new blood.
