On Sunday, Joe Biden took the stage at Austin’s SXSW festival to promote The Biden Foundation, which will devote significant resources to cancer research as well as funding to help victims of domestic violence. Joe and his wife, Jill, formed the foundation in February after he launched and led the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force during his last year as VP. As Biden has previously revealed, he declined not to run for president while grieving the loss of his son, Beau, who passed away from brain cancer at age 46.
During Biden’s speech, he revealed his one major regret over not running for president. He wishes that he could have been the president who led the fight to finally end cancer:
“I had one regret. And that was I would have loved to have been the president who presided over the end of cancer as we know it.
Biden also expressed his dream for the future, which is that the political spectrum will come together for this all-important cause: “The only bipartisan thing left in America is the fight against cancer.” He didn’t mention President Trump by name, but Biden hopes that the new administration will take up the cause in earnest, and he offered up his assistance:
“Your generation could be the first generation on earth that goes through life with a completely different understanding of cancer as preventable … instead of a death sentence … It is my hope that this new administration, once it gets organized — and I’m not being facetious — will be able to focus on and be as committed and as enthusiastic as we were in the goal of ending cancer as we know it … I will do everything in my power to work with the new administration.”
Naturally, Biden was speaking to a packed house, and the wristbands that guaranteed entrance to his speech vanished within minutes. His presence is sorely missed in Washington, D.C., but it’s clear that Biden isn’t going anywhere, and he hasn’t ruled out a 2020 run. Watch his full speech below.
https://youtu.be/Lm_uT0J6gd8
(Via CBS News)