President Joe Biden on Sept. 4 touted his accomplishments in an address to union workers in Philadelphia to mark Labor Day and pushed back against critics who say he’s too old to seek a second term.
“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,” President Biden said to begin his remarks.
In a recent Wall Street Journal poll, an overwhelming majority of voters said he’s too old to run for president again.
Two-thirds of Democrats and almost three-quarters of voters overall said 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’s 77.
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, he spoke about the economy, attempting to change the perception of voters by drawing a contrast with President Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
President Biden said the 45th president was one of two presidents during whose terms the number of jobs in the United States decreased.
“By the way, you know who the other one was? Herbert Hoover,” President Biden said.
In Philadelphia, despite the 84-degree weather and high humidity, his speech was more invigorating than previous ones, and it resembled a campaign speech.
“Look, we’re turning things around because of you,” President Biden said in the speech, which seemed aimed at shoring 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.
“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.”
He 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,” President Biden wrote in the article, titled “Bidenomics is working in Wisconsin. We’re investing in American workers.”
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.“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 job gains 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 U.S. economy lost about 22 million jobs from February 2020 to April 2020 because of lockdowns, but it recovered 12 million jobs by December 2020 under President Trump.
