Biden, Kamala open Democratic convention with appeal to middle class

A month ago, the Democratic Party’s plan A was for US President Joe Biden to take the stage at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, as a candidate for re-election to the White House. This Monday (19), however, Biden was applauded as the main campaign leader for Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

In a speech marked by Biden’s passing of the baton to Kamala, after the Democratic leader dropped out of the electoral race, the current president sought to establish the differences between his party and his opponent Donald Trump, from the Republicans.

“We used to import goods and export labor. Now we export American goods and create American jobs, right here in America where the jobs belong,” Biden said to chants of “thank you, Joe” and “we love Joe.”

“With each new job, with each new factory, pride and hope is being brought back to communities that have been left behind all across this country. You know what it was like when that factory closed where your mother, your father, your grandmother, your grandfather worked,” Biden said. “And now, that factory is back, providing jobs once again, proving that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” he said.

Democratic rhetoric is aimed at reaching the majority of Americans, since more than half identify as middle class. A recent report from the Pew Research Center found that, despite being the most populous social class classification, the middle class has grown from 61% of Americans in 1971 to 51% in 2023.

The same survey, however, states that “65% of middle-class Americans are struggling financially and do not expect that to change by the end of their lives.”

The president used much of his speech to review his government’s achievements as a way of defending the continuation of a Democratic administration at the helm of the White House for another four years.

Biden also reminded voters of the pandemic that plunged the US into economic chaos under Donald Trump and cited his and Kamala Harris’ efforts to return the country to normal. To this end, he highlighted what he considers to be the successes of his domestic policy, such as low unemployment, falling inflation and efforts to lower drug prices.

“Just think about it: Covid no longer controls our lives. We have gone from economic crisis to the strongest economy in the world. Record 16 million new jobs. Record small business growth. Record stock market high. Wages are up and inflation is down, way down and still down. The smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years,” Biden said.

“More Americans have the peace of mind of having health insurance. More Americans have health insurance today than ever before in American history,” he continued.

Settling differences with Donald Trump

By extolling his political achievements for the middle class, President Joe Biden sought to establish the differences between his administration and the eventual term of Kamala Harris, with the years of Donald Trump in charge of the White House and a possible new term.

“Trump wants a new tax on imported goods, food, gas, clothing and more. Do you know how much that would cost the average family? $3,900 a year in taxes. It’s a fact! Kamala and Tim will make the child care tax credit permanent, lifting millions of children out of poverty and helping millions of families get ahead,” Biden said.

“Trump created the largest debt any president has had in four years with a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy. Well, Trump has a new plan: he wants to give a $5 trillion tax cut to corporations that are very wealthy,” he said.

“You know we have a thousand billionaires in the United States. Do you know what the average tax rate they pay is? 8.2%. If we just raised their taxes — we proposed to 25%, which is not even the highest tax rate — we would raise $500 billion in new taxes over 10 years, and they would still be very rich. Look, Kamala and Tim are going to make them pay their fair share. They are going to protect Social Security and Medicare. Trump wants to cut Social Security and Medicare,” he said.