It appears that First Lady Jill Biden has decided to go on the 2024 campaign trail on her own, leaving President Joe Biden - the ostensible candidate - behind.
The first lady got the trip underway with a visit to New York on Friday.
Pictures from the visit have been posted online by the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Biden made two stops during the visit.
WAMC Northeast Public Radio reports, "First Lady Jill Biden was in the Hudson Valley Friday promoting the president’s agenda with two events."
The outlet continues, "Biden visited Dutchess Community College at Fishkill’s new mechatronics lab, which was funded in part by the American Rescue Plan Act." Then, afterward, Biden "met with local education leaders at DAY ONE Early Learning Community in Poughkeepsie."
Based on the statements that Biden made during the trip, it is clear that she was essentially in New York to campaign on behalf of her husband, who is currently the frontrunner to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee in 2024.
The first lady, for example, said:
[Biden is] creating new opportunities for hardworking families, and building our economy from the middle out and the bottom up.He and Senators [Chuck] Schumer [D-NY] and [Kirsten] Gillibrand [D-NY], along with Congressman [Pat] Ryan [D-NY], and many others in the New York delegation, fought hard to pass the CHIPS and Science Act so the Hudson Valley can be a leader in manufacturing, because employers need skilled workers to fill all the jobs being created.
If this is not a campaign pitch, then what is?
This is the big question. And, one answer is, "Not on the 2024 campaign trail."
The reader may remember Biden's 2020 campaign strategy, which is often referred to as the basement strategy because unlike his rival - then-President Donald Trump - Biden spent most of the 2020 campaign season in his basement.
It would appear that Biden is employing a similar strategy for 2024. He has hardly done any campaigning thus far. And, what little campaigning has taken place for Biden has been done by proxy, such as here, through the first lady.
As for why Biden is not campaigning, we do not have any definite answer. Critics would probably say something along the lines of "because he is too old" or "because he is a liability" or "because he is just a figurehead."
Whether any of this is true is up for you, the reader, to decide. But, what could be said with certainty is that Biden's lack of campaigning is raising many eyebrows.
