Joe Biden Not Running for President
The veep says he's out
In a speech from the White House's Rose Garden, Vice President Joe Biden announced that he will not run for president. That window is forever closed, he said.
Flanked by his wife, Jill, and President Obama, the vice president promised that he would still play an active role in the 2016 Democratic presidential process.
"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent," he said.
After declaring that he wouldn't enter the race, Biden talked about the importance of continuing Obama's legacy. He mentioned a variety of liberal policies and seemed to endorse the "free college" plan that candidate Bernie Sanders supports.
"We need to commit to 16 free years of public education," he said.
It was something of an odd I-will-not-run speech. Biden seemed very keen on talking to the country about why he would make a great president. But alas, it was not meant to be.
Earlier this week, Reason's Nick Gillespie considered how dreary a Biden presidency would be for libertarians:
Let's be clear: Joe Biden would be awful from any sort of libertarian perspective. He's a hawk mostly in foreign policy and if he's not quite as awful as the last draft-averse patriot who served as vice president, he's part of one of the two worst administrations this century when it comes to fighting "dumb" wars. On top of that, he's been silent on the issue of domestic surveillance, torture, and other niceities of today's modern warfare.
For virtually his entire career, Biden has been a joke and a punchline, known not simply for dada-esque gaffes but also for cheating while in law school and, inexplicably, plagiarizing biographical details from a British politician during a disastrous White House run in 1988. Then there's the weird stuff during swearing-in ceremonies.
And, of course, Biden's leading role as an architect and enforcer of the drug war.
Of course, the actual Democratic field is pretty depressingly un-libertarian, too.
Watch Reason TV salute Biden, below.