Joe Biden doesn’t sound like a man about to enter the presidential fray.
At least he didn’t Thursday night in an emotional appearance on CBS’ “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” While Biden didn’t definitively rule out a run, he did discuss his tenuous emotional state in the aftermath of the May death of his son, Beau, to brain cancer.
“Look, I don’t think any man or women should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and, two, they can look the 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 said. He added: “And I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there.”
Though Biden didn’t officially say he would sit on the sidelines this presidential cycle, he did discuss how he sometimes just breaks down at random moments over the loss of his son.
“You can’t do that,” Biden said after saying he probably shouldn’t be revealing his emotional state.
Colbert ended the interview by imploring Biden to enter the race.
“I know that’s an emotional decision you have to make, but it’s going to be emotional for a lot of people if you don’t run,” he said. “I think that your experience and your example of suffering and service is something that would be sorely missed in the race — not that there aren’t good people on both sides running — but I think we’d all be very happy if you did run.”