The head of former President Barack Obama's auto industry task force called President Joe Biden's appearance on a picket line with United Auto Workers "outrageous," saying there's "no precedent for it."
"The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things," Steven Rattner told NBC News. "I get the politics. The progressives all said, 'We don't want a mediator; we want an advocate.' And he bowed to the progressives, and now he's going out there to put his thumb on the scale. And it's wrong."
Biden on Tuesday urged striking auto workers to "stick with it" in an unparalleled show of support for organized labor by a modern president.
Donning a union cap and exchanging fist bumps, Biden told United Auto Workers strikers that "you deserve the significant raise you need" as he stopped in the Detroit area just a day before a planned visit by former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination in next year's election.
Asked if UAW members deserved a 40% raise, one of their demands over the course of negotiations, Biden said: "Yes. I think they should be able to bargain for that."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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