Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was a guest today on CNN’s Late Edition program. What I found interesting was his reasoning for not endorsing Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Wolf Blitzer asked Biden if he planned to endorse either of the two candidates. “No, I do not. But I’m helping them both when they call me. I speak to them not infrequently. I guess, on average, three, four times a month, they each call me. And I’m happy to give them advice when they ask it. But I will leave that to the folks in the primaries to decide,” Biden answered.

Blitzer followed up by asking Biden why he hadn’t endorsed. “Because I think that — they’re both my friends. And quite frankly, Wolf, the moment I weighed in, you’d be speculating as to whether I was looking for a job, so… And I’m not looking for a job. And so I’m going to help whoever the nominee is. And they both know that. Immediately, when I got out of the race in Iowa, they each asked me, almost the same day, to join them. I told them I would not. I would not endorse either one. I’ve kept that commitment, and I’m helping them when they call me,” Biden said.

I guess we can put to rest all the rumors that Joe Biden would be the next Secretary of State should the Democrats win the general election. After his presidential campaign didn’t catch on, I think that Biden realized his limitations and is happy being a senior senator and Democratic Party elder. Biden is a super delegate, and it sounds like he is going to throw his support behind whoever is the leader after the primaries.

Quite frankly, I am glad that there still are some people out there who have not got caught up in the Clinton/Obama battle, and are willing to look ahead at the party’s future. Joe Biden is regarded as one of the more down to Earth members of Congress, so I can’t think of a better guy to be advising both candidates.

Full Interview Transcript:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/13/le.01.html