By BETTY TAMPOSI, PhD and TOM SHERMAN, MD
Today we come together from two very different political backgrounds declaring our full support for our President, asking all of you to join us in taking a Democrat ballot, filling in the last oval, and writing in Joe Biden’s name on the bottom line.
Any politician faces two types of challenges when they are first elected to a public office: those they inherit from their predecessor and those that arise while they are in office. Joe Biden took office in 2021 at the height of the Covid Pandemic, and he created the most successful recovery – both from a public health and economic standpoint – in the history of our country.
With the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), he provided funding for Covid testing and vaccines, safely re-opened schools for in-person learning, helped 200,000 child care providers keep their doors open, and delivered direct relief to American families by putting more money in their pockets and ensuring continued access to healthcare and housing.
In New Hampshire alone, this equated to $1.4 billion in federal aid when we needed it most. To keep the momentum of this economic recovery going, ARPA was followed by the passage of a succession of critical bills addressing many more of those inherited challenges. The bipartisan infrastructure bill created the framework and funding to rebuilding our roads, bridges, ports, and airports, upgrading public transit and rail systems, replacing lead pipes to provide clean water, cleaning up pollution, providing affordable high-speed internet to every family in America, delivering cheaper and cleaner energy to households and businesses, and creating good-paying jobs – including union jobs and jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. With the Chips and Science Act, President Biden made good on his promise to bring manufacturing and its high paying jobs back home to the United States.
And again NH is the direct beneficiary of this federal investment from Nashua to Manchester and the Seacoast. Other serious inherited challenges that the Biden administration addressed directly include gun violence reduction and climate change.
Faced with a rise in active shooter incidents from 2019 to 2021 of 40 to 61 respectively, tragedies such as the Uvalde and Buffalo massacres, and a rise in gun-related deaths to an unprecedented 48,830 in 2021, President Biden demanded action by Congress.
As a result, in June 2022, he signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The first major act of Congress to address gun violence reduction in over 30 years, the law broadened the background check system, addressed gun trafficking, expanded community violence intervention programs, and provided resources for manpower and accessibility issues in the mental health field.
On climate change, under President Biden’s leadership, the US has reengaged with the world through participation in global initiatives including the Paris Agreement and the United Nation’s COP 26-28 meetings.
And at home, in 2022, by signing the Inflation Reduction Act, he ushered into law what many have said is the most significant legislation addressing the climate crisis in United States’ history, including multiple opportunities for financial support for New Hampshire’s own efforts as we face sea level rise and extreme weather events.
On foreign policy, President Biden received accolades from conservative Washington Post Columnist Marc Thiessen, who enumerated several key foreign policy successes of the Biden administration.
He wrote, “He further strengthened restrictions on China’s access to advanced technology… He hosted the first trilateral summit with South Korea, Japan and the United States… He launched the ‘Replicator Initiative’ to better compete with China… [which] aims to fast-track weapons development and production… He provided military aid to Taiwan under a program reserved for sovereign states… He called Xi Jinping a dictator … twice.” While dealing with the threat from China in the East, the President responded quickly and unequivocally to Putin’s Russian invasion of our ally in the West, Ukraine. He rallied Congress and allies in Europe and across the world to commit to Ukraine’s defense, providing essential tactical, technical, and financial support while not allowing the war to expand beyond their borders.
President Biden continues to stand with Ukraine, preventing Russia from conquering a sovereign nation and ally. And we do not need to look very far back in history to remind ourselves what can happen when a tyrant is successful in expanding his territory and influence.
President Biden remains steadfast in his support for another ally, Israel, whose people were brutally attacked on October 7th. He continues to work closely in the region, providing humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the crossfire and urging Israel to minimize casualties among non-combatants. Walking this fine line of respecting our allies’ needs, recognizing the real threat of terrorism, and our collective responsibility to protect innocent lives, requires his demonstrated nuanced leadership. Finally, the economy here at home has flourished under his leadership.
His policies that successfully ushered us out of the worst pandemic in US history have resulted in unprecedented economic growth, creating almost 11 million new jobs since 2021 and more than 2.7 million new jobs in 2023 alone. Facing a sharp rise in inflation in 2022, he worked closely with the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the Treasury Department.
He knew how deeply this would affect the country, especially the poor and the middle class. While his political foes predicted doom and a recession but offered no solutions, President Biden crafted and stuck with a strategy that has created a soft landing – inflation now down to pre-Pandemic levels and the price of regular gas under three dollars in many parts of the country.
And while inflation falls, the economy continues to grow at a healthy 5.8%, with unemployment at a low 3.7% nationally and at 2.3% in NH.
Perhaps most important of all markers of the economy is what is happening with real wages, i.e., wages in spite of inflation. On the President’s watch, those real wages have grown in 2023 by almost 1% for all workers while wage inequality has fallen, meaning these gains are felt across the workforce regardless of race or gender. And then there is the fact that New Hampshire is still “First in the Nation.”
We held the first Presidential Primary over a century ago, and we have shown that we are really good at it. Granite Staters take that responsibility seriously. They get to know the candidates, and a candidate with a lot of energy but not a lot of resources can crisscross our beautiful state and make their case.
From Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan to John McCain to Bernie Sanders to Barack Obama, there are so many whose voice was first heard in New Hampshire. And we all can make it clear that we still take that privilege and responsibility seriously by voting in our Presidential Primary on January 23, 2024. In his first campaign speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania on January 5, 2024, President Biden declared that “[t]his is the first election since the January sixth insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy… That’s what’s at stake. Who are we? … Freedom, liberty. Democracy is still a sacred cause, and there’s no country in the world better positioned to lead the world than America.”
It will be our honor to cast our vote for President Joe Biden by filling in the last oval on the Democratic Ballot and writing “Joe Biden” on the line. We hope all of you will join us.
Dr. Tom Sherman, Former State Senator and Democratic Nominee for NH Governor in 2022.
Dr. Betty Tamposi, Former Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of State appointed by President George H. W. Bush.
Betty Tamposi, PhD of New Castle
Thomas M. Sherman, MD of Rye
Disclaimer: InDepthNH.org takes no position on candidates, but welcomes diverse opinions. Email nancywestnews@gmail.com