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By Harriet Sinclair
Associate Editor
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Former Vice President Joe Biden doesn't believe Hillary Clinton ran for president with much "joy." Instead, he says she was a "prisoner of history" in her bid for the White House. Speaking in an interview with Vanity Fair published Wednesday, Biden discussed his recollection of Clinton's campaign and his memoir in which he describes the candidate's attitude during her run.
"Everyone thinks it was just raw ambition on her part," he told the magazine. "I think she was sort of a prisoner of history; first woman who had a better-than-even chance of getting the nomination. First woman, relative to the Republican field, who had a better-than-even chance of being president."
"There's a lot of baggage, fair and unfair, and there was no illusion on her part, this wasn't going to be a Marquess of Queensberry fight," he said.
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"And so I never got the sense that there was any joy in her campaign. Maybe it's me, but I find joy in doing this," he added.
Biden's comments echo those of former President Barack Obama, who said during his own run against Clinton "you're likeable enough, Hillary," in what appeared to sum up less than enthusiastic feelings toward Clinton from a number of voters.
Indeed, during both Clinton's initial bid to become the Democrat presidential nominee and in her subsequent election campaign, she was plagued by suggestions she was not likeable enough, which her fans lambasted as a gendered slant.
Biden has made similar comments in his memoir, suggesting the former secretary of state was put in a position where she was compelled to run for office by eternal forces. "The sage political analysts would say she was probably on her way to a historic victory, the first woman to win the White House," Biden wrote in his book. "But she did not evince much joy at the prospect of running. I may have misread her entirely that morning, but she seemed to me like a person propelled by forces not entirely of her own making," he added.
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