By JORDAN EVANS
Columnist
Last Thursday we had the opportunity to watch Vice President Joe Biden on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. This meeting was unlike many of the common late night shows interviews.
This one was not littered with political puns and one-liners, but rather deep and emotional dialogue. Colbert started his interview in asking Biden to talk about his late son Beau Biden, a decorated war hero and public servant. Beau pasted away on May 30, 2015 from the effects of brain cancer.
Biden has also lost his wife and daughter in a car accident in 1972. Though heartbreaking, it is refreshing to see a prominent politician speak so openly and to be so frank with the public about personal loss.
Biden has recently been pushed to join Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Presidential Primary race. Biden ran in both 1988 and 2008, but this election is the first in which he has received much support from the public to do so. Though the media has been anxiously awaiting his presidential candidacy announcement, his interview with Colbert proves that he will most likely not be pursuing the Democratic bid this election.
Biden stated, “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, number 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.’” He finished by saying, “I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there.”
While looking at the presidential field and seeing the candidates that belittle each other and discriminate against certain groups of people, it would be refreshing to have a candidate that empathized with the struggles millions of Americans deal with every day. While Biden could make a strong run for the presidency, I have great respect of his decision to stay out of the race despite public wishes. He realizes he is not in the emotional state to handle the stresses that the president must deal with. I believe we can all learn from the Vice President’s resistance to run. We all face the influence of others to do things we may not be capable of handling, but respecting our limits and not exceeding them can be as reputable as servicing those requests.