--- title: Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run description: "You've got to get through the first Thanksgiving—the first empty chair; the first Christmas, the first smell of spring" canonical: https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-09T20:05:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:14:37.954Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run for President og:description: "I believed I could win, but that's not enough" og:url: https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc8d679f8bb5de80/698874af524fc0d18fdf5d7d/joe-biden.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UKRAINE-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run for President twitter:description: "I believed I could win, but that's not enough" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc8d679f8bb5de80/698874af524fc0d18fdf5d7d/joe-biden.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run for President by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 9, 2015 8:05 PM UTC  US Vice President Joe Biden waves to people gathered ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (unseen) in Kiev on December 7, 2015. US Vice President Joe Biden waves to people gathered ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (unseen) in Kiev on December 7, 2015.Sergei Supinsky—AFP/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 9, 2015 8:05 PM UTC Vice President Joe Biden says his October announcement that he would not to run for president in 2016 was “[the right decision](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-09/joe-biden-i-made-the-right-decision-).” “I believed I could win, but that’s not enough. I know myself. And I know it takes time,” he told _Bloomberg_, referring to the mourning process for his son Beau’s death. “You’ve got to get through the first Thanksgiving—the first empty chair; the first Christmas, the first smell of spring.” Biden continues to honor his son daily: He wears Beau’s rosary on his wrist, and he’s making it a priority to meet with cancer researchers and philanthropists to find better treatment for the disease that killed his son. Read more at [_Bloomberg_](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-09/joe-biden-i-made-the-right-decision-). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run for President","datePublished":"2015-12-09T20:05:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:14:37.954Z","description":"\"I believed I could win, but that's not enough\"","url":"https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc8d679f8bb5de80/698874af524fc0d18fdf5d7d/joe-biden.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc8d679f8bb5de80/698874af524fc0d18fdf5d7d/joe-biden.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UKRAINE-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY","caption":"UKRAINE-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY","creditText":"Sergei Supinsky—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4143310/joe-biden-presidential-run-right-decision/","name":"Joe Biden Says He Made the 'Right Decision' Not to Run for President"}}]}] ```