On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 12, former Vice President Joe Biden hinted at the International Association of Firefighters that he is considering running for the 2020 presidential election. At the gathering, firefighters echoed a “Run Joe Run” chant and with that he replied to the people, “Save it a little longer: I may need it in a few weeks.” On Tuesday, he announced that it may take a few more weeks for him to finalize his decision, although there are many are gossiping that he has already made his decisions. There have been reports that he has already informed the Democratic party he will be running in the 2020 presidential election. The rumors of Biden’s potential campaign first began back in December 2018, when stated at a book-tour stop that he feels that he is “the most qualified person in the country” to be president.” Since this statement, many more Democrats have announced their run for president, igniting anticipation for Biden’s announcement to join the race.
Joe Biden was the Vice President of the United States under President Barack Obama from 2009-2017 and he also served as a US senator from 1973-2009. If Biden were to run in 2020, this would be his third run for president. In 1988, Biden ran for office but dropped out of the Democratic primary after he was accused of plagiarizing one of his speeches. Then in 2007, Biden ran for office but later in the campaign joined Barack Obama and took the position of his Vice President. After choosing not to run in 2016 to mourn the loss of his son, Beau, and to fully support Hillary Clinton in leading the Democratic party, Joe Biden took time out of the political spotlight.
Since President Trump has been in office, he has been openly critical of many of his decisions. On Tuesday in his speech he explained, “In America, everybody gets a shot,” Mr. Biden said. “That’s what the next president of the United States needs to understand, and that’s what I don’t think this current president understands at all.”If Biden decides to run in this presidential election, he is making it known that he will challenge President Trump and the Republican party on their understanding of the American people and campaign similar to that of Obama. Depending on his decision, this also means that the competition in the Democratic party has toughened since it will be assumed that he will have the full backing of former President Barack Obama to help push his name to young and old Democrats.
With the addition of Joe Biden to the Democratic candidates for the 2020 elections, there will be a plethora of opponents for President Trump. If Joe Biden decides to run, he would be running against Cory Booker, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson, Andrew Yang, Pete Bettigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand and Wayne Messamin the race to represent the Democratic party.
With all the talk of Joe Biden running for president, my only concern is the age. If he decides to run, Joe Biden would be the second-oldest candidate at 76, behind Bernie Sanders who is 77. In the last presidential election, we saw the battle against 71-year-old Hillary Clinton and 72-year-old Donald Trump. My issue is: can 70-year-olds really can meet the concerns and struggles of the youth. The values, principles, and struggles have broadly changed since their time. Although Biden was the vice president during the Obama administration, I feel his background would influence policies and decisions that differ from the demands of the youth. Like the previous election, I believe it will be in the hands of the youth to decide who they want to be president and to lead their political parties. Our generation is the future leaders and it is better to get our foot in the door now. I feel it would be in the best interest of the Democratic party to send a younger age candidate to face Trump in the 2020 election.