Joe Biden

In a heartfelt statement to reporters moments ago, Joe Biden confirmed that he won’t run for president. Various news accounts indicate that Biden is still struggling with the grief he has been enduring since losing his son to brain cancer. Biden had repeatedly vowed not to run if he and his family did not have the emotional energy to commit to an intense, grueling, and protracted campaign.
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Biden enjoys, and will continue to enjoy, a tremendous amount of good will among Democratic voters. And rightfully so. As I’ve written before, Biden’s “goofy ol’ fun-loving Uncle Joe” persona is mostly a product of the camera, which is unfair to him — it never did justice to how serious a public servant and policy thinker he has been over the decades. Biden’s public mourning — he lost a wife and daughter many decades ago, and his son only a few months ago — has inspired his friends and ideological foes alike. The depths of grief he has known are unfathomable to those of us who have not lost children, yet he has somehow managed to come to the surface to teach us a lesson in how to publicly cope with searing, unimaginable tragedy.

Even Biden’s more colorful and ad-libbed moments have masked something more serious beneath the surface. . . .Biden also deserves a quick shout out for the impact he had on the gay marriage debate. It’s not clear that Obama would have become the first president to declare his support for gay marriage if Biden had not “accidentally” gone off message and broken with the president on the issue. Biden had a hand in writing the history of one of this country’s major social and civil rights transformations.

Anyone who has been fortunate enough to talk to the Vice President can report that he brought a striking level of seriousness to his ruminations about the difficult moral conundrums that often lie at the heart of policy dilemmas. Liberals have had major differences with Biden over the years, but this is a man who has devoted a good deal of his life to the idea that government can be a force of good in improving people’s lives. As those who have discussed these matters with Biden can attest, Biden deeply grasps that a crucial part of the challenge of governing and enlightened policy-making is that this idea is often a tough sell in this country — and will continue to be a tough sell going forward. But it’s a challenge that Biden will undoubtedly remain committed to — and make great contributions towards meeting — for many years to come.