After months of hinting at a possible run, it appears thatJoe Bidenwill announce his candidacy for president on Thursday.
On Tuesday, theWashington Postreported that the former vice president, 76, will at last officially announce his 2020 presidential run. The newspaper said that Biden will make the announcement in a video and is expected to travel to Pittsburgh, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina over the next week.
In the past, Biden has arguedhe’s the best person for the job. In December 2018, he told a crowd at the University of Montana, “I’ll be as straight with you as I can. I think I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president.”
“The issues that we face as a country today are the issues that have been in my wheelhouse, that I’ve worked on my whole life,” he continued.
“No one should run for the job unless they believe that they would be qualified doing the job,” he added at the time. “I’ve been doing this my whole adult life, and the issues that are the most consequential relating to the plight of the middle class and our foreign policy are things that I have — even my critics would acknowledge, I may not be right but I know a great deal about it.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU
Biden served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 under PresidentBarack Obama.
According to thePost, he will enter the race on top of many national polls, but the newspaper says his challenge will be in reaching out to demographics like women, millennials, and minorities.
Biden’s supporters, however, argue that he is an ideal candidate to win back blue-collar voters from PresidentDonald Trump.
The former vice president has faced controversy in recent weeks, as multiple women came forward to accuse him of inappropriate behavior.
In the days following accusations from Connecticut native Amy Lappos and Nevada politician Lucy Flores, both of whom claimed Biden touched them without consent and made them feel uncomfortable, Biden spoke out on Twitter andvowed to be more mindfulof people’s personal space.
Flores claimed that Biden touched her shoulders and kissed the back of her headwithout consentin 2014, whileLappos came forwardand said Biden grabbed her head and rubbed his nose on hers during a political fundraiser 10 years ago.
In thetwo-minute videoposted earlier this month, the politician said that his intentions were never to make anyone feel uncomfortable and said he would adjust to the changing social norms of personal space.
“Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset and I get it. I get it,” Biden added. “I hear what they’re saying. I understand it and I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility and I’ll meet it.”
“I worked my whole life to empower women,” he pointed out. “So the idea that I can’t adjust to the fact that personal space is important, more important than it’s ever been, is just not thinkable. I will.”
source: people.com
