Vice President Joe Biden delivers what’s likely to be the final major political address of his career Wednesday, offering an economic argument for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention here.
For Biden, who anguished over mounting his own run for president last year, the appearance offers a “what could-have-been” moment: a supporting role at a convention that, in other circumstances, could have been for him.
After a lengthy public deliberation, Biden announced in October that he wasn’t emotionally ready for a presidential bid, four months after the death of his son Beau.
“It was the right thing not just for my family but for me,” he said in the interview with ABC News.
Biden initially endorsed Clinton in a low-key, off-hand remark. But he has since delivered a full-throated backing of the Democratic nominee, who would have been his primary rival if he had mounted a run. He’s praised her focus on the middle class, a touchstone issue of his career. And while they differed at times during her tenure as secretary of state, Biden has since lauded Clinton’s foreign policy credentials.
He’s also offered sharply critical comments about Donald Trump, who he’s deemed unfit for the presidency. In Ireland last month, Biden cast the Republican nominee as a xenophobe peddling isolationism and nationalism.
Biden will argue that Trump isn’t prepared for the complex national security challenges of 2016, a person familiar with his speech said.
Like President Barack Obama, Biden is predicted to be have a regular campaign presence leading up to November’s vote.
“I’m going to be living in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Michigan” leading up to the election, he said on MSNBC Wednesday — all states where his blue collar appeal would resonate. That tour is set to begin August 15, when Biden campaigns alongside Clinton in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In his convention remarks, the vice president “will reflect on his experience over the last eight years and over his career,” said a Biden aide, adding that he will “outline why Secretary Clinton is the only candidate with a record of standing up for the middle class.”
Biden was also likely to offer reconciliatory remarks to the supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders. During the prolonged battle between Clinton and the Vermont socialist senator, Biden eagerly heaped praise on Sanders, saying he was a more natural messenger for issues of income inequality.
Tuesday, the vice president said Democrats need to “show a little class” to Sanders supporters who are still stinging from his loss.
“We have to show a little class and let them be frustrated for a while,” Biden told CNN. “It’s OK.”