ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — US Vice President Joe Biden said in a White House Rose Garden appearance Wednesday he will not run for president in 2016, ending months of speculation that he might throw his hat into the ring.
“Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time," he said at the appearance, flanked by President Barack Obama and Biden’s wife, Jill, the Associated Press reported.
Many Democrats hoped for a Biden run against current Democratic frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, currently polling second to Clinton in the Democratic race, have been campaigning since April, and enjoy a head start in fundraising, volunteers, endorsements and voter outreach.
Biden in his statement did not endorse any candidate for president, but said democratic candidates would do well to stand by the legacy of the Obama administration. He also said he would still maintain a presence within politics and the party.
"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent," the 72-year-old Biden said.
After the death of his eldest son Beau earlier this year from brain cancer, many political observers questioned if the death would affect Biden’s will to mount another political campaign.
In a September episode of the Late Show TV program, Biden told host Stephen Colbert he was still grieving for his son, and this would have made a presidential run difficult. "Sometimes it just overwhelms you," he said.
Relating to policies affecting Kurdistan and Iraq, Biden once proposed in 2006 as a senator and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iraq should be divided into three states for the Kurds, Shiite and Sunni Arabs. However, he later distanced himself from this position after becoming vice president, to the chagrin of many Kurds.
“We want what Iraqis want: a united, federal and democratic Iraq as defined by its own constitution, where power is shared among all Iraqi communities,” Biden said in an April 2015 speech. “When the three major constituencies—Sunni, Shia and Kurd—are united in wanting a whole and prosperous Iraq, the likelihood of being pulled into the orbit of any single nation in the region is diminished exponentially.
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