‘It’s good to be home’: Biden touts economy and labor relations at campaign launch

“I’m more honored by your support than you can imagine, coming so soon. It’s going to make a huge difference in this campaign,” Biden said at the rally.

The campaign event comes just a day after the AFL-CIO endorsed Biden. The president’s speech was similar in tone and content to previous speeches on the economy: touting his reputation as “the most pro-union president in American history,” slamming Republicans for tax cuts, and exposing his own economic achievements over the past two years -a year and a half.

“We have created 13 million new jobs since I became president. The unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years. I’ve also seen record lows for black and Hispanic employment. We have created 800,000 manufacturing jobs,” Biden said. “Inflation has fallen for 11 months in a row and will continue to fall. Today it is less than half of what it was a year ago. This did not happen by chance. We we did.

But administration and campaign officials know they still have a tightrope to walk on the economy and recognize that it’s something they’ve struggled with in the past: bragging about what they’ve done without appearing out of touch or being accused of painting an image too rosy.

And for Democrats, who feared the campaign wouldn’t kick into high gear, the event couldn’t come soon enough. He also showed how the campaign plans to operate for the foreseeable future: keeping a heads-down approach with showpiece events to contrast with what’s shaping up to be a chaotic and rhetorically nasty Republican presidential primary.

The rally is also the first in a slate of new campaign activities over the next few weeks: Biden will travel to California, Maryland and Chicago for big-budget events, Vice President Kamala Harris, who made the most of the heavy lifting for fundraising will be in New York, Dallas and Maryland while the first lady heads to Tennessee and Minnesota.

The events come near the end of the fundraising quarter, where campaigns will have to disclose the amount of money they have raised. Some Democrats have grumbled that the Biden campaign has yet to release fundraising numbers, which makes the numbers seem not impressive enough and continues to fuel the narrative that there are few fundraisers. enthusiasm on the left for Biden’s re-election.

But those awaiting Biden’s re-election should not hold their breath. Some insiders of the effort have said that major campaign rallies may not begin in earnest until late this year or early 2024. What’s more likely are events like these tied to particular issues: gun control, abortion and the economy.

“I truly believe this country is about to take off. The investments we have made over the past three years have the power to transform this country for the next five decades. And guess who will be at the center of the transformation? You. The unions, the workers of this country,” Biden said.