(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Biden takes direct aim at the Republican war on freedom [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-27 Team Biden's emphasis on freedom likely comes as a shock to a host of political analysts, who recently warned that Biden's inner circle was leery of engaging in divisive culture war issues and instead wanted to exclusively focus on the president's economic accomplishments. Last month, Ron Brownstein wrote in The Atlantic that "the dominant view" within Biden's inner circle is that the best response to the GOP's culture-war blitz is to "engage with it as little as possible." With the exception of abortion rights, Biden, by contrast, is working to downplay or defuse almost all cultural issues. Instead Biden is targeting his communication with the public almost exclusively on delivering tangible economic benefits to working-class families, such as lower costs for insulin, the protection of Social Security and Medicare, and the creation of more manufacturing jobs. Brownstein's reporting certainly rang true in the lead-up to Biden's announcement. The president devoted the first several weeks of April to his Investing in America tour, with both him and his cabinet fanning out across the U.S. to plug major Biden administration investments in manufacturing and infrastructure. Following the announcement Tuesday, Biden got right back to work on the economic front. By lunchtime, the president was at the North America's Building Trade Unions (NABTU) conference bashing the Republican Party's fealty to "trickle-down economics." "They believe the best way to grow the economy is from the top down," Biden explained. "Like many of you, not much trickled down to my dad’s kitchen table." Several hours later, Vice President Kamala Harris would be at Howard University, delivering the freedom message and urging students to "stand and fight” for their "hard-earned freedoms" currently under attack. Simply put, the White House is walking and chewing gum at the same time, deploying Biden to an economic event while sending Harris to deliver a values-based argument. It's a formulation that will likely repeat itself. But Biden also seems intent on personally leaning into the country's existential battle for freedom—an umbrella term that comfortably covers the GOP assault on everything from bodily autonomy to the right to self-determination. The president’s latest ad ticks through several specific freedoms currently at risk: the freedom of women to make their own healthcare decisions, of children to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to vote and have it counted, and for seniors to live with dignity. The ad concludes, "For freedom, for democracy, for America: Joe Biden." That's not the spot of a candidate looking to duck the fundamental fight of our time. Biden must continue to sell his accomplishments—they will serve as the basis for his argument that he deserves four more years and many Americans still aren’t aware of them. And for many voters, the economic pitch is essential because the fear of Republican rule won't be compelling enough to ensure a vote in favor of a second term. But freedom is the anthem of Democratic base voters, and many of Democrats' most loyal constituencies have been caught in the crosshairs of the Republican Party's war on freedom. Firing up those critical base voters will take a consistent emphasis on the freedoms we all risk losing if Republicans prevail in retaking the White House next year. Winning will take a two-pronged approach that engages swing voters while animating the base. So far, Team Biden appears very mindful of both. The past week seems to have packed in a month’s worth of news. Markos and Kerry tackle it all, from Joe Biden’s big announcement to Tucker Carlson’s early retirement from Fox News. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/27/2166085/-Biden-knows-2024-election-is-about-freedom-and-the-economy Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/