WHITE HOUSE—U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has decided not to seek his Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency in 2016, ending months of speculation about whether he would run.

Speaking Wednesday in the White House Rose Garden, Biden said the grieving process after his son Beau died of brain cancer in May “does not respect or much care about things like filing deadlines or debates and primaries and caucuses.”

“I believe we are out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination,” Biden said, with his wife, Jill, and President Barack Obama standing next to him.

Biden, 72, said while he would not be a candidate “he will speak out clearly and forcefully” about “where we need to go as a nation.”

He also praised President Obama, saying “he led this nation from crisis to recovery.”  He added, “This party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the Obama legacy, he said.

Biden, who spent more than three decades in the U.S. Senate representing Delaware, had previously launched two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, the most recent in 2008.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump was quick to react on Twitter.

Clinton paid tribute to Biden in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

“Joe Biden is a good man and a great Vice President.  Serving alongside him in the Senate and then the administration, I saw first-hand his passion for our country and our people,” she said.  “Like millions of others, I admire his devotion to family, his grace in grief, his grit and determination on behalf of the middle class, and his unyielding faith in America’s promise.”

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York also praised the vice president.

“He has had a long, distinguished, effective career.  And when someone goes through what he went through, with the awful tragedy, everyone has sympathy for him.  Look, I respect his decision, and I am glad he is going to continue to stay active in the public arena,” he said.

_{Sam Verma contributed to this report}

Source : VOA News

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