reporter: the vice president picked a spot he strived to reach since arriving in washington more than four decades ago. and that i will well and reporter: biden may never win the white house, but he s an elder statesman now, me clear that s a role he intends to play. but while i will not be a candidate, i will not be silent. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as i can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation. reporter: he offered no endorsements, but said democrats should embrace president obama. this party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake about about we walk away or attempt to undo the obama legacy. the another un. so message to clinton, the party s frontrunner, who has broken with the presidnt on a few key issues. democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on
inviting me to the rose garden a minute. the vice president picked a spot he strived to reach since arriving to washington with presidential aspirations. biden may never win the white house, but he s an elder statesman now. he made clear that s a role he intends to play. but while i will not be a candidate, i will not be silent. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as i can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation. he offered no endorsements but said democrats should embrace president obama. this party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the obama legacy. another unspoken message to clinton, the party s front runner who s broken with the president on a few key issues. democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on the record.
there s no way we can ever, ever, ever resolve the problems we have to. and you end up with the dysfunction that we re experiencing here in washington. i have now traveled over a million 100 miles as vice president. my wife didn t want me to be secretary of state because i would be traveling too much. i don t believe like some do that it s naive to talk to republicans. i don t think we should look at republicans as our enemies. they are opposition. they re not our enemies. those comments as you know they ve been seen as swipes at hillary clinton given the comment she made at the end of the last presidential democratic debate the cnn debate last week at the end when she was asked about her enemies she mentioned iranians, drug companies, also said republicans. and he seems to be responding to that. republicans are not our enemies. i don t see it that way. i don t think that the vice president thinks that is how she
looking in to how difficult of a path this would be, he finally decided that there just wasn t time for him to win the nomination and he doesnidn t wao go out a loser. joe biden walked into the rose garden to extinguish a dream. unfortunately, i believe we re out of time. the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination. reporter: with those words today, the vice president closed the door to weeks of self in-tuesdayed speculation about joining the 2016 presidential race. it turns out he wasn t firing a washing shot this week at hillary clinton over her suggestion that republicans are the enemy. i don t believe like some do that it s naive to talk to republicans. reporter: he was offering an optimistic lesson to fix a broken washington. i believe we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart p. reporter: of all the places to make his announcement mr. president, thank you for allowing me the rose garden for a minute.
hillary clinton as this contest goes forward. absolutely. i think what he said today was harmful. i think hillary s statement in that debate the republicans were her enemy was a serious mistake. one that we will definitely be hearing about in the general election. and for joe biden to remind people of it and then basically give his opinion to the idea that this is not a good idea and that potentially she can t be the person that brings people together, i think that hurts her. and if i were the clinton campaign i d be pretty upset about it. that s an excellent point as well. s.e., the reaction from republicans coming in obviously donald trump saying, you know what, he s happy because hillary clinton he says will be an easier democrat to beat in a general election than biden would have been. well, look, yes and no. i mean, you i think could make the argument if you ve been in washington long enough that joe biden is more liked, is better liked than hillary clinton is. you ve heard