Biden: ‘I Could Make A Good President’

A round of interviews to discuss the SOTU turns into speculation about Vice President's ambitions

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Charles Dharapak / AP

Vice President Joe Biden did a round of breakfast show interviews Wednesday to discuss President Obama’s State of the Union address, but ended up fielding questions about his own ambitions for the Oval Office.

“In my heart, I’m confident I could make a good president,” said Biden on NBC’s Today Show.

Biden was cagey when asked about whether he’ll certainly run in the 2016 election. “I haven’t made a decision to run. I haven’t made a decision not to run,” said Biden. And on CBS’ This Morning, Biden said he and wife Jill Biden haven’t made up their minds. “Jill and I will make that decision later down the road… If I don’t run for president we’ll all be ok.”

The vice president was questioned on other issues including immigration reform and the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. Biden reaffirmed the administration’s stance on immigration, insisting that a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is an essential part of any immigration reform bill.

“We don’t want two-tier people in America. Those who are legal but not citizens, and citizens,” said Biden. “Citizenship is the pathway.” But he conceded that House Republicans would likely stop short of offering a pathway to citizenship in their own reform bill, due to be unveiled this week. “If that’s what you’re going to pass, pass it,” he said. “Then we’ll decide if it’s good enough.”

Biden also had some sharp words for former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who strongly criticized the vice president in his recently released memoir and claimed the VP was wrong on almost every major policy decision of the last 40 years.

“Well you know Bob and I like each other, we both acknowledge each other possess integrity, as he said in his book, but we have disagreed for 40 years,” Biden said on CBS. “I thought we should end the war in Vietnam, that’s why I ran. He didn’t think that. I thought Iran Contra was a disaster, he thought it was a good idea… I thought we should end this war in Afghanistan, after taking care of al Qaeda which we’re about to finish doing. He didn’t. the president said last night, it’s time to end the war in Afghanistan. That’s not Bob’s position.”