(Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Joe Biden, faced with accusations from several women that he's made them uncomfortable with unwanted physical contact, said he understood that social norms have changed and that he needs to be more respectful of the personal space of others.
“I get it, I get it,” Biden said in a two-minute web video posted Wednesday afternoon. “I hear what they're saying.”
Biden didn't apologize to the women who have come forward or anyone else who may have been uncomfortable, saying of his physical gestures, “It's the way I've always been.”
Biden, 76, has been expected to announce this month that he'll make his third run for the Democratic presidential nomination. He gave no indication in the video of his intentions.
The former vice president and senator long has been known for hugging and kissing supporters and others he comes in contact with. But in the “Me Too” era, some of the women he's encountered have gone public in the past week to say his actions made them uncomfortable.
Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assembly member, said Biden smelled her hair and delivered “a slow kiss” to the top of her head at a 2014 campaign event when she was running for state lieutenant governor.
“I just can't imagine that there was never a situation where someone said to him,” Flores, 39, said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.” “You probably should stop doing that, you should probably stop touching women in that way.”
At least three other women have made public statements expressing their discomfort with how Biden touched them since Flores first came forward in a New York magazine column published Friday. None of the women have said that they felt Biden's actions were a form of sexual assault or harassment.
"I've worked my whole life to empower women, I've worked my whole life to prevent abuse," Biden said the video, which followed a written statement he released on Sunday. "So the idea that I can't adjust that the fact that personal space is important, more important than it's ever been, is just not thinkable. I will. I will."
He insisted he would adapt to the times.
"Social norms have begun to change, they've shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset,” Biden said. “I'll be much more mindful. That's my responsibility, my responsibility. And I'll mean it."
Other Democrats so far haven't called on Biden to drop any plans for a presidential race, but several said his statements that he never intended anything untoward aren't enough.
“The focus isn't on what his intentions were, it is how his behavior is experienced, and one should not invade personal space,” Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said on Tuesday. “He needs to be a lot more aware of that."
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, ;Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton
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