Vice President Joe Biden might follow President Barack Obama's footsteps and run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
Biden revealed Wednesday that he "could do a good job" running for president in 2016, and that "there's a chance" he would challenge presumed Democratic challenger Hillary Rodham Clinton for the White House, USA Today reported.
"To be blunt with you, I think I could do a good job. But that's not my focus now," Biden told the "TODAY" show's Matt Lauer on Wednesday morning. "My focus now is keeping this recovery moving. I have plenty of time to make that decision between now and the summer, and I will make that decision in that time frame."
"I haven't made my mind up about that. We've got a lot of work to do between now and then. There's plenty of time," Biden repeated on ABC's "Good Morning America," adding that there's no rush to make a decision.
Although former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush spurred the 2016 presidential election campaign last month by officially declaring his intention to run, several GOP hopefuls and even Clinton, the likely Democratic front-runner, continue to mull decisions on whether or not to make a bid for the nation's highest office.
"I think this is wide open on both sides," he continued, describing Clinton as a "really competent, capable person and a friend."
In Tuesday's State of the Union speech, Obama announced a plan to raise $320 billion through new taxes and fees on the wealthy and big banks that could be used to pay for free community college tuition, universal child care and additional tax credits for working-class families.
"America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: The shadow of crisis has passed," Obama said in his sixth State of the Union address to the nation. "Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?"
When questioned about Republicans' applause after Obama stated that he had no more campaigns to run, Biden said he didn't think it was anything unusual, MSNBC reported.
"I've sat through a lot of State of the Unions with eight different presidents and similar things have occurred. I just think it's the nature of a body of 535 people. There's always something like that that comes up. I don't think it represented any institutional disrespect for the president," Biden said.
