President Joe Biden on Monday touted his accomplishments in an address to union workers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to mark Labor Day and pushed back against critics who say he is too old to seek a second term.
He began his remarks with a joke: “Someone said, ‘You know, that Biden is getting old, man.’ I tell you what. The only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom. I’ve been doing this longer than anybody, and guess what? I’m going to continue to do it with your help,” Biden said.
The president was likely referring to a new Wall Street Journal poll in which an overwhelming majority of voters said he is too old to run for president again.
Two-thirds of Democrats and almost three-quarters of voters overall said that the 80-year-old incumbent is too old to run for a second term. Although the age difference between the candidates is only three years, 73 percent of respondents said President Biden is too old to seek a second term, while only 47 percent felt the same way about former President Donald Trump, who is 77 years old.
The poll also showed that both candidates are tied in a potential rematch of the 2020 election, with each holding 46 percent support.
Park Avenue versus Scranton
President Biden has long expressed his support for labor unions and branded himself as “the most pro-union president” in U.S. history. However, his handling of the country’s economy has been a source of concern for many Americans, notably blue-collar workers, because of high inflation.
In Philadelphia, President Biden spoke about the economy, attempting to change the perception of voters by drawing a contrast with President Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican nomination.
He said that the 45th president was one of two presidents who left office with fewer jobs than when he was elected.
“By the way, you know who the other one was? Herbert Hoover,” Biden said, comparing his predecessor and rival to President Hoover, who was blamed for the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In Philadelphia, the president appeared younger thanks to his shirt sleeves and baseball cap. Despite the 84-degree weather and high humidity, his speech was more invigorating than previous ones, resembling a campaign-style speech. During his remarks, though, he coughed a few times.
“Look, we’re turning things around because of you,” President Biden said in a speech that sought to shore up support among his core union base.
“When the last guy was here, you were shipping jobs to China. Now we’re bringing jobs home from China. When the last guy was here, your pensions were at risk. We help save millions of pensions with your help,” he said.
“When the last guy was here, he looked at the world from Park Avenue. I look at it from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I look at it from Claymont, Delaware. Not a joke.”
Biden went on to highlight his economic plan, which, he said, created 13.5 million new jobs, including 800,000 in manufacturing.
Over the weekend, the president published an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to argue that his economic agenda benefits blue-collar workers.
“While Congressional Republicans block increasing the minimum wage and attack unions, I will continue to make progress where I can,” the president wrote in the article, titled “Bidenomics is working in Wisconsin. We’re investing in American workers.”
He called on Congress to pass the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Clash Over Jobs Growth
President Biden touted his economic performance last week following the August jobs report during a speech in the Rose Garden at the White House, a response to President Trump’s claim that he presided over greater employment gains.
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), exceeding the consensus estimates. Even though this marked the third-weakest jobs report under President Biden, it was still interpreted as a sign of a resilient labor market.
“We created more jobs in two years than a president ever created in a single four-year term. We did it in two years,” President Biden said during his Rose Garden speech. “We recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic.”
Some have criticized President Biden for falsely attributing all of the credit to his policies and neglecting to take into account the return to work as a result of the reopening of businesses, the government, and schools after the pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020 caused millions to lose their jobs.
The economy was rebounding and jobs creation had begun before he took office, they say.
The U.S. economy lost about 22 million jobs from February to April 2020 due to lockdowns, but it recovered 12 million jobs by December that year under President Trump.
The former president recently stated that President Biden’s record of job creation pales in comparison to his own.
The U.S. economy added roughly 5.4 million jobs in the first 30 months of his term, prior to the pandemic.
President Trump said that by comparison, only 2.1 million new jobs were created during President Biden’s first 30 months in office. The Trump campaign later told PolitiFact that the figure was arrived at without counting workers who returned from pandemic layoffs.
From The Epoch Times
