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U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters at Nowhere Coffee Company in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, U.S., January 12, 2024. Photo: Leah Millis/REUTERS
EMMAUS, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden tried his hand at retail politics Friday, stopping by three Pennsylvania stores to emphasize the value of small businesses and talk about his economic performance.
This was a marked departure from the routine speeches Democratic presidents usually give to highlight economic policies where employment is strong but inflation levels concern voters. Biden casually shopped at a running shoe store, bike shop and coffee house in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
“My name is Joe Biden, and I work for the Governor and Senate,” the president said while walking into Nowhere Coffee Co. with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.). ” he said. Biden ordered something like a mango smoothie. Obviously, the people at the coffee house knew who he was, and one of them joked, “Today is just a normal day.”
Strolling along Main Street, Mr. Biden is in full campaign mode, months ahead of the November election in which he could face his 2020 opponent, former President Donald Trump. It looked like it was in.
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Biden won 53.2% of the vote in surrounding Lehigh County in 2020, helping him secure victory in Pennsylvania and the White House. This will likely be the case again this year if he is to win re-election.
Mr. Biden’s pitch on Friday is better for small businesses than Mr. Trump, a billionaire, real estate mogul and reality TV host who won the presidency in 2016 on the premise that he knew how to grow the economy. That’s what it was.
At the Emmaus Run In, Biden highlighted what he believed to be an important difference. He noted that in his first three years as president, there were 16 million applications to start new businesses, the highest number ever.
Later, during a stop at a firefighter training center in nearby Allentown, Biden cited recent consumer sentiment data as inflation has fallen to 3.4% from a high of 9.1% in June 2002. , said people are starting to feel better about the economy.
“Before you know it, they feel a lot better about the economy,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question. “What we don’t do is let people know exactly who made the changes. … Everyone gets better and believes in it. They know it. And it starts to sink in. I just got it.”
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Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Shapiro said Biden talked with store owners about his wife, Jill,’s running habits and the type of bikes she likes to ride.
“It was great for him to see the small businesses that make our economy tick and the people behind them,” Shapiro said.
The president also faced questions about national security from reporters who followed him. He said the United States and its allies were not engaged in a proxy war with Iran, following a missile attack on the Houthis that attacked a ship in the Red Sea. He later said he was “very concerned” about the risk that oil prices would rise as a result of the attack.
But Biden returned to some of his favorite lines during his time in Pennsylvania. As he left his coffee shop, the president pointed out that his birthplace was only 90 minutes away.
“By the way, we’re almost in heaven, we’re almost in Scranton,” he said.
Josh Bork reported from Washington.
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U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters at Nowhere Coffee Company in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, U.S., January 12, 2024. Photo: Leah Millis/REUTERS
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