Washington – Vice President Joe Biden described Vermont Sen Bernie
Sanders on Monday as more authentic on economic inequality than Hillary Clinton
and defended Sanders' record on gun control. Weighing in on the Democratic race
he almost joined, Biden said he never felt Clinton was the prohibitive favourite
to win.
In an interview with CNN, Biden also disclosed that President
Barack Obama offered him money when his son's health declined and made him
promise not to sell his house. Beau Biden died from brain cancer last May.
Biden, who decided not to run months after his son's death, said
Sanders speaks to "a yearning that is deep and real" on issues of
wealth disparity and people left out of the economy. He said Sanders had
credibility on the issue, but that for Clinton, the issue was relatively new.
"Hillary's focus has been other things up to now, and that's
been Bernie's — no one questions Bernie's authenticity on those issues,"
Biden said. He went on to say people question anybody who hasn't been talking
about the issue that long.
He also said Clinton, who has coalesced much of the Democratic
establishment's support, had a high bar to meet as the perceived favourite to
win her party's nomination.
"I never thought she was a prohibitive favourite. I don't
think she ever thought she was a prohibitive favourite," said Biden, who
praised Clinton at other points in the interview.
Biden's remarks offered some of the first public insight into his
machinations about the 2016 race and particularly the Democratic field. Biden
and Obama have not endorsed, and Obama's chief of staff has said the president
won't take sides in the primary. Biden's endorsement would be highly coveted by
any of the Democratic candidates.
But a campaign dispute erupted last week between Sanders and
Clinton after Obama, aiming to ramp up political pressure on gun control, said
he wouldn't endorse or campaign for any candidate who opposes what he described
as common sense gun control, and he mentioned liability for gun-makers as a key
issue. White House officials later noted that Sanders has said he's open to
revisiting the liability issue.
"Bernie Sanders has said that he thought the president's
approach is the correct approach. Bernie Sanders said that he thinks there
should be liability now," Biden said. Asked whether Sanders needed to
change his position to qualify for his support, Biden said no.
In the interview, Biden also revealed that during lunch with Obama
as his son, the former Delaware attorney general, was losing his ability to
speak. Concerned about how his son's family would support themselves without
his salary, Biden said he and his wife had discussed selling their house.
"He said, 'I'll give you the money,'" Biden recalled referring
to Obama. "Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe –
promise me. Promise me."
