President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Oct. 11, 2023, in Washington. Biden is returning to Pennsylvania to use the critical battleground state again as a backdrop for some of his favorite political themes, championing steep increases in public works spending and detailing how bolstering green energy can spur U.S. manufacturing.
“When there’s an international crisis, you’ve got to be leading,” said Joel Rubin, who was an Obama administration State Department official and a veteran of Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. “The fact that he’s going to continue to be out there demonstrates leadership.” Biden's reelection campaign has joined the White House in stressing that being president always means juggling multiple pressing concerns. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The president has to do multiple things at once."
“If he wins the state he's very likely to win reelection,” Shrum said. “So they can do the event in Philadelphia and get a lot of attention for it.”