The vice president "has the character to be president," Jill Biden says of her husband. | AP Jill Biden: 'Maybe America missed an opportunity'

The United States possibly lost out when her husband, Vice President Joe Biden, decided not to run for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, Jill Biden says.

"I really do feel that Joe would’ve made a great president," Biden said in an interview aired Friday on NBC's "Today."


The vice president, she added, "has the character to be president."

"I think that he’s a convener, I think that one of his strengths is compromise. So, I feel, you know, maybe America missed an opportunity," she remarked, adding, "I don’t know. It just wasn’t the right time.”

Biden ultimately announced his decision not to run last October, months after his oldest son Beau died of brain cancer. At that announcement, Biden said he would dedicate his final year as vice president to undertaking a "moonshot" effort to cure cancer. The vice president has spoken with several medical schools since that time and will speak on the subject at a major conference at the Vatican later this month.