President Joe Biden is truly a man of the people, or that is the lie he keeps telling America.
That’s the sentiment of a new TV ad that began airing in several battleground states including Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan earlier this month. It spotlights how President Biden’s agenda is focused on lowering costs for America’s working class.
Titled “Never Left,” and part of a 16-week, $25 million ad blitz that launched last month, the commercial reminds viewers of Biden’s oh-so-humble roots in Scranton, the blue-collar city in Pennsylvania that he once called home. The ad further touts his pursuit of policies that are meant to benefit low- and middle-income Americans.
“He knows what life is like for working people and knows middle-class life is too expensive right now,” the narration proclaims. It then highlights the efforts that Biden has undertaken to lower those costs.
The ad campaign has been airing on a variety of programming – from NFL games to “Dancing With the Stars.”
Joe Biden Never Left?
“While MAGA Republicans pretend they’re fighting for America’s middle class, President Biden and Vice President Harris are actually delivering,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager for Biden-Harris 2024 told the Arizona Mirror after the campaign spent upwards of $40,000 to broadcast the ad in the Phoenix market.
“This ad serves as an early reminder of the choice Americans will face next year: between MAGA Republicans whose agenda would give tax handouts to the ultra-rich at the expense of working people, or Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ agenda for the middle class,” added Rodriguez.
Blue Collar Joe is Back in Fashion
The “Never Left” ad spot also began running just weeks after President Biden hit the picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan.
As NBC News reported, “Biden, who is looking to polish his pro-labor persona, is the first sitting president to appear on a picket line,” and added, “Simply by showing up, Biden set a precedent for American presidents about how to respond to future strikes. Union officials and their congressional allies may now expect a president who purports to be pro-labor to join them on picket lines, invoking Biden as an example.”
Traditionally, presidents tend not to take sides so that they can remain fair brokers, but for Biden, this is as much about his future as it is the autoworkers.
It is About the Blue Wall
Michigan and other “rust belt” states proved vital to former President Donald Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016. The once mighty “Blue Wall” states that Democrats have counted on in recent years came tumbling down, and with it, Clinton’s hopes of victory.
Biden rebuilt that Blue Wall – and while he would go on to declare on multiple occasions that there are “no blue states or red states,” it is clear that he sees that the Blue Wall states are crucial to victory. Hence, the Blue Collar Joe persona is back – just one of several identities that Biden sports to fit the audience.
Biden has shown to be a man who is essentially Jewish, Puerto Rican, Polish, etc. as anything when the mood (speech) requires. Biden is someone who has done it all and was famously a legal scholar at times, claiming to have taught law.
Yet, with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania on the line, he was back to being a regular Joe Six Pack – or at least was for around 12 minutes according to The New York Post – before he climbed back about Air Force One to head to a swanky Silicon Valley fundraiser hosted by the founder of a private equity firm.
Clearly, Biden – ever areal-world “Zelig” – knows that votes in Michigan alone won’t win the race. And he will do or say anything to win.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
