Few in the Obama administration thought Joe Biden was the right person to represent Democrats in the 2016 presidential election, and the president himself overlooked Biden, which was "a painful, if silent, rebuke," Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes wrote in their book "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign," according to The Washington Free Beacon.
"The elder Biden didn't want to interfere with his son's political ascent and worried that his own presidential bid would make it harder for Beau to win statewide office in Delaware [they would have been on the ballot at the same time if Joe ran for president and Beau ran for governor in 2016]," the book revealed, referring to Joe focusing on son Beau's political career before he passed away in 2015.
Joe Biden said he was too sad to run after Beau's death.
"Part of my soul was gone," he said in September. "And no man or woman should run unless they are capable of giving every ounce. I wasn't healthy enough to pour my whole heart and soul into the effort."
But Biden "was also being overlooked by the president whom he had faithfully served, a painful, if silent, rebuke. Obama and his aides refused to take sides publicly, and some still had no appetite to help Hillary. But few thought Biden, who would turn 74 the month of the 2016 election, was the right person to represent Democrats in the campaign," Allen and Parnes wrote.
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