Andrew Roth
| Special to The Detroit News
Middleville — First lady Jill Biden visited west Michigan Wednesday as calls mount for her husband, President Joe Biden, to withdraw from the presidential race following a lackluster debate performance last week.
But the impending presidential election hardly seemed to be top of mind for the children at YMCA Camp Manitou-Lin in Middleville, who danced and sang along to songs like “Party in the U.S.A.” and “Firework” as Biden made her way throughout the lunchroom to mingle with the students.
Biden visited the camp to highlight the SUN Meals program, which provides kids with meals and snacks at no cost at sites like schools and parks during the summer months, when regular school lunches are not available.
“For too many children, their summers are stolen by hunger,” Biden said. “Many kids count on getting a meal from their school. But parents’ paychecks don’t get bigger just because it’s summer break. And that means hard choices.”
As Biden worked her way around the lunchroom, she asked students what their favorite part of attending camp was. One student answered that their favorite part was the food; YMCA Camp Manitou-Lin smokes their own meats on site, which Steve Sallese, the camp’s food service director, said is more nutritious than highly processed foods the kids might get otherwise.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, jokingly expressed her concern that they didn’t get to sample the pulled pork with Michigan cherry barbeque sauce that they were shown, noting that it smelled delicious.
Other answers included the camp’s swimming activities, naptime, making new friends — and meeting the first lady.
Biden visited the “Hidden Helpers” campers, who are military-connected children of wounded, ill or injured service members or veterans who are participating in a Camp Corral program, as part of her Joining Forces initiative to support military families.
A small group of campers who Jill Biden met with separately on the porch were working on an art mural that will be displayed at the White House after the July 4 holiday to help bring awareness to the 2.3 million children of wounded, ill or injured service members and veterans.
The first lady’s visit was not immune to election year politics.
U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia, blamed the Biden administration for rising costs as a result of inflation, citing data from the American Farm Bureau showing that an Independence Day cookout would be 30% more expensive than it would have been five years ago.
But Biden blamed the increasing costs on corporations, who she said are continuing to raise their prices despite bringing in record profits.
“Kids deserve a chance to be kids; to play and learn and grow and discover their dreams at school and beyond,” Jill Biden said. “And every parent should be able to provide for their kids and give them the best start for the rest of their lives.”
Jill Biden’s visit to Michigan also included a stop in Traverse City.
More: Biden vows to keep running after his disastrous debate. ‘No one is pushing me out,’ he says
The first lady has taken on an increased prominence in recent days as one of Biden’s top advisors in assessing his June 27 debate performance amid pressure to bow out of the race.
“We’d like to welcome the real President Biden to Michigan,” Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Trump’s Michigan campaign, said in a statement. “At least today the lack of explanation for the Democrats’ failed policies is purposeful and not a sign of obvious cognitive decline.”
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas, on Tuesday became the first Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives to publicly call for Biden to end his campaign.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has increasingly been floated as a potential replacement for Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, did not appear with the first lady in Middleville, nor did she greet her at the airport Tuesday evening when she arrived in Grand Rapids.
The president planned a meeting with Democratic governors at the White House on Wednesday after they reportedly expressed their concern about Biden’s campaign. Whitmer planned to attend the White House meeting with Biden and fellow Democratic governors in person, her spokesman said Wednesday.
Whitmer has denied that she told the Biden campaign it could no longer win Michigan, as someone close to a potential 2028 rival characterized her message to Politico in an effort “to wound Whitmer, by portraying her as being disloyal to Biden.”
“Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of s—. Let’s go,” Whitmer wrote in a tweet Monday.
But Democrats hopeful for a younger candidate quickly pointed out that Whitmer did not specify in the tweet who “we” is and included a link to her own federal PAC rather than to Biden’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee.
Nearly a week after the debate, the president is beginning to ramp up activities and take steps to try and recover from the debate, setting his first sit-down interview with a major news network in several months for Friday, planning trips to the swing states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Friday and Sunday, respectively, and announcing plans to hold a solo press conference at the White House next week.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential replacement for Biden should he quit the race, is planning to campaign in Michigan on Thursday on Biden’s behalf. The Van Buren County Democratic Party is hosting the second-term Democratic governor at an Independence Day event in South Haven.
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Publish date : 2024-07-03 14:42:19
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