Biden to start process of vetting VP candidates

WASHINGTON: Former US vice-president Joe Biden will create a committee to oversee the selection process for his deputy should he win election to the White House.

Biden, who holds a significant lead over Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary race, also said he was thinking about his potential cabinet. He was speaking during a virtual fundraiser on Friday and said he had spoken to his opponent about the vice presidential vetting process.

Biden, who served under Barack Obama, has previously committed to choosing a woman as his running mate. Calling Sanders a “friend”, Biden said he did not want to be seen as “presumptuous” but added that the process “takes time”.

The comments came in response to a question about whether he would be willing to release his full proposed cabinet at the same time he announces his vice presidential pick. Biden did not answer the question directly, but did indicate that there are a number of people who have been helping his campaign with whom he has discussed whether they would be “willing to come into a government if I get elected”.

He did, however, suggest he has been thinking deeply about the makeup of his potential cabinet. There are a number of “younger, really qualified people” which Biden said he believes could be future leaders of the party if given more prominent roles.

He also suggested he would prioritise diversity in choosing his cabinet secretaries, and he wants the lineup to “look like the country”.

“Men, women, gay, straight, across the board, black, white, Asian, it really matters that it look like the country because everyone brings a slightly different perspective,” he said. But, in a hint of how deeply he has considered his options, Biden said: “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘You’re president tomorrow. Write down in the next 15 minutes your cabinet,’ I think I could do it.”