WAYNE, Pa. — Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday sought to channel voter anger over sustained joblessness and a stagnant economy against the Republicans, telling a labor-heavy crowd here that only Democrats will look after the working class.
Biden painted the Republican Party as false claimants to the title of fiscal responsibility, saying they did not pay for any of their largest programs during the presidency of George W. Bush and that Obama was handed a $1.4 trillion deficit.
“When Reagan left office he ballooned the deficit. He left $158 billion that year. When George the first left he left $290 billion. But his son made them all look like a piker,” Biden said.
Biden, campaigning for congressional candidate Bryan Lentz 20 miles west of Philadelphia, drew on his close ties to this part of the country and on his working class upbringing, connecting with an audience of several hundred that was made up mostly of men, many of them from labor unions.
The rally was held in a gymnasium in this wealthy township, which is in the northern portion of a district that has a lower-income southern section, after the local majority Republican school board turned down the White House’s request for Biden to speak at a local high school.
Much of Biden’s rhetoric focused on his working class upbringing. He told the story of his father losing his job and coming to tell his son that he had to move from Scranton, Pa., to Wilmington, Del., and be apart from his wife and children for a while.
Biden said many of the friends he knew growing up have suffered economic hardship in recent years, and said that he is just as angry as many voters are.
“They have reason to be angry, and I’m angry,” he said. “I’m angry to see what’s happened to my friends that I grew up with.”
But Biden sought to deflect the anger onto Bush’s policies, which he said have caused the American dream to “evaporate” for many working class Americans.
“A lot of our folks are angry, and they’re angry for really good reasons. The press things that because they’re angry, they’re angry at us,” he said, arguing that voters are actually upset with the “profligate bankrupt policies of an administration that paid no attention in the years 2002 and 4 and 6 and 8 to people like my dad.”
“These guys don’t get it,” Biden said, referring to Republicans. “A job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about dignity. It’s about your pride.”
Biden said that if Democrats lose the House, President Obama’s polices will come to a “screeching halt.”
“If in fact we cannot retain the House and the Senate — I believe we will retain both — but if we cannot, you’re going to see come to a screeching halt all the things that [indecipherable] changing,” Biden said.
The vice president, using a set of talking points that was similar to those used by former President Bill Clinton on the stump, said that the $814 billion stimulus had been effective. The 9.6 percent unemployment rate would have been two percentage points higher if not for the spending, Biden said. He also said that since January the program has created 860,000 jobs.
He quoted an unnamed local politician in Boston: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.”
“Only the Almighty could have brought back 8 million jobs instead of close to a million in the first 20 months,” Biden said.
Biden made only fleeting mention of Obama’s health care overhaul, which has proven to be highly unpopular with voters this election season.
Lentz, a military veteran and state legislator, is trailing Republican Pat Meehan in the polls by a few percentage points, in a race that has become much closer than it was over the summer, when an internal Meehan poll showed the former U.S. attorney ahead by more than 20 points.
Meehan thought he “had it pretty much in the bag,” said Lentz staffer Lisa Mankawsky, in remarks to the crowd before Biden arrived.
But Mankawsky said that a vigorous voter outreach and get out the vote effort has given them “enough momentum that the Republicans are now scrambling to keep up with us.”
She promised a “massive canvassing effort” this weekend in the last final days before Tuesday’s election, and asked those in the crowd to sign up to help. “Whether you can give us four days or four hours, it doesn’t matter. We can’t win this without you.”
Daylin Leach, a state senator, also encouraged the crowd to recruit supporters to the polls and to prevent opponents from voting.
“Will we take a pledge to drag our neighbors to the polls?” he said.
The crowd yelled, “Yes!”
“Unless they’re not voting for Bryan, in which case we will take a pledge to block them from going to the polls,” Leach said. The crowd laughed, though a few yelled out, “Yes.”