Vice President Joe Biden visits Wright State

Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a grassroots event at Wright State on Wednesday, September 12 to campaign for the upcoming election. The standing-room-only event took place in the Apollo Room of the Student Union, and was free to the public. Biden spoke for approximately 20 minutes and spent a few minutes shaking hands afterwards. Biden took the stage around 1pm and began by issuing a brief apology to the many people that were not able to get in due to limited space. He then paid homage to the four Americans that were killed in the overnight attack of a diplomatic facility in Libya. For the rest of the speech, Biden was zoned in on re-election. “The task of a President is not only to defend our interest and causes and the causes of freedom abroad,” said Biden, “It is also to build a nation here at home to which the entire world can look and aspire to be like, and whether we do that, and how we do that, that is literally the essence of the choice that we face in this presidential election.” Biden quickly launched into the popular issues of the 2012 election, including jobs, taxes, and a crowd favorite: college financial aid. “The president and I put in a tax break of 2500 dollars for anyone who sends their kid to college,” said Biden, “It is in America’s economic interest that we graduate every qualified young man and woman in America from college.” In the middle of the speech, the vice president repeatedly made the mistake of referring to Wright State as Wayne State (a university in Detroit), which the crowd politely but firmly corrected. Biden then discussed healthcare and education, spending most of the time on the Medicare controversy. “We are for Medicare, we are against voucher care,” said Biden, attacking the Romney-Ryan proposed voucher system. Biden wrapped up his 20 minute speech on an optimistic note. “There is no quit in America, it doesn’t exist,” Biden voiced to the steadily increasing audience applause, “America is better positioned today than any time in the recent past to be the most dominant economy in the 21st century, and no one should forget that.” The Biden appearance marks the first Presidential campaign to sweep through Wright State in 2012, though both candidates Barrack Obama and John McCain made appearances in 2008.