President Joe Biden talks with volunteers at a campaign office in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: AP
Barack Obama once said that if it were not for Scranton, Pennsylvania, there would be no Joe Biden.
The current president, whose term ends in January, returned to his childhood hometown on Saturday for a final campaign stop in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, using his influence in a key part of a key swing state to extend his term. Tried to help defeat. opponent in Tuesday’s election, Republican Donald Trump.
Scranton has a storied history for Biden, and if he were still at the top of the Democratic ticket, a stop here would likely be seen as a full-circle moment for his final campaign.
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Instead it was Biden’s swan song of sorts for his No. 2, and a muted one at that.
The president rallied union workers at a small hall in the city where he is popular, in the constituency where he grew up before his family moved to Delaware, where he began his more than 50-year political career. do.
“I’m very proud to be back,” Biden said, diving into familiar remarks about his and Harris’ support for unions, his pride in being the first president to walk the strike and his efforts to restore pensions. Happened.
“Don’t forget where you came from,” he said to applause, warning of consequences if Trump is elected and dismantles the Affordable Care Act health care program, which was Obama’s signature achievement.
Biden used colorful language in reference to his younger days in Scranton when describing what he wanted to do to those who would reject his legislative accomplishments.
He said, “I’m serious. These are guys you want to beat up.”
Biden told the crowd that he would not have chosen Harris as his vice president if she had not shared his views about hard-working Americans.
“We have made a lot of progress and Kamala will carry that progress forward,” he said. “We have to elect Kamala as president.”
Biden, who stepped down as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer after a disastrous debate performance against Trump in July, has not made regular appearances on the campaign trail for Harris since ascending to the top of the ticket.
He held both official and campaign-related kick-off events over the summer to energize demoralized Democrats. But Biden’s former campaign has largely left him in the shadow due to concerns about his age, penchant for gaffes and low approval ratings among the American public.
The wisdom of that strategy was highlighted earlier this week when Biden’s call with a Latino group in which he referred to Trump supporters or backers as “trash” came as Harris did well to thousands of supporters in Washington. The concluding argument derived from partially dominates the speech. Biden later clarified his comments, but the episode was unpleasant for Harris and her team in the final stages of the race.
However, it wasn’t enough for them to ask Biden to stop in Pennsylvania, where he spoke at a union get-out-the-vote meeting with Carpenters Local 445, standing in front of a wall of signs that read There was “Harris for President” and “Thanks, Joe.”
published – November 03, 2024 01:10 am IST