Biden’s Honest and Emotional Appearance on Colbert

It is a paradox. This is the kind of man that needs to be our leader. Honest and Authentic. A true family man. And yet, because of that, I don’t think he will run. Because he knows he doesn’t have it in him.

Taking a serious tone, Biden reiterated that he’ll only run if he can tell voters, “I promise you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy, and my passion.” He continued, “I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there. I’m being completely honest. Nobody has a right in my view to seek that office unless they are willing to give it 110 percent of who they are.”

That’s almost exactly what Biden said the last two times he publicly addressed the issue, but what made this version different was his detail and honesty about how much he’s struggling with Beau’s death from brain cancer in May. In the first segment, Biden appeared teary-eyed as he shared touching stories about his son, saying that if having a child who’s better than you is a reflection of your parenting skills, “I was a hell of a success. My son was better than me. He was better than me in every way.”

Biden never ruled out a run, but he didn’t seem like a man likely to announce his wholehearted commitment to a presidential campaign within the next three weeks. He recalled a recent meeting with members of the military and their families in Denver. “It was going great,” he said, “and a guy in the back yells, ‘Major Beau Biden. Bronze Star, Sir. Served with him in Iraq.’ And all of a sudden I lost it. How could you — I shouldn’t be saying this — but you can’t do that. You can’t do that.”

He’s talking about breaking down on the campaign trail. I don’t know if you can’t do that. Seems to me that if you can act like, no be, a narcissistic buffoon insulting everyone and everything and being proud of it, you can show some emotion on the campaign trail at the death of your son. I think voters will understand.