As America begins preparations for its 2020 presidential election, the two-time presidential candidate and former Vice President in the Barack Obama administration, Joe Biden, has officially declared his intention to run for the country’s top seat.
Biden announced his intention to run after several months of uncertainty with a campaign video, which was released on Thursday. In the video, Biden spoke about the current state of the country and the imperative need to save its “soul.” He referenced and spoke against the racial divide in the country, citing the infamous 2017 white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Going further, he directly called out Trump for his statement on the issue which seemed to insinuate that blame was on both sides, describing it as “insensitive.”
“He said there were, quote, some very fine people on both sides,” Biden said. “With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.”
Not the First Time:
This announcement makes it the third time Biden has thrown his hat into the ring, joining the race to become president.
His first attempt was in 1988 when he was just 44 years old. While serving as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden’s presidential aspirations were destroyed when allegations surrounding him plagiarising his speech by an opposition candidate, Neil Kinnock, became public knowledge.
It also did not help that further investigation revealed that it was not his first dance with plagiarism, as he had also exaggerated his academic record from his time at Syracuse University College of Law. This led him to eventually withdraw his candidacy.
Another chance opened in 2008 and Biden wasted no time in grabbing it. Going against the front runner and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, Biden announced his bid in January 2007. He, however, made several mistakes along the way, which eventually led to him coming in the fifth position at the primaries and dropping out. Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, picked him as his running mate, leading to an eventual entry into the white house.
Although rumours swirled around that he would run against Clinton one more time in 2016, the death of his son allegedly put a stop to that, as he announced that his “window had closed.”
A Crowded Race:
With a wide range of diverse and progressive candidates such as Kamala Harris, Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders and about 17 others vying for the Democratic ticket, Biden has his work cut out for him in the primaries, before a potential face-off with Trump.
Sanders and Warren have, each, reacted to Biden’s announcement, with Warren continuing their age-old feud by attacking him again. She had previously written an op-ed for the New York Times in 2002 about their clash over a controversial bankruptcy bill in the country.
