‘It’s Wrong’: Former Obama Official Rips Biden For Attending UAW Picket Line

A former adviser to former President Barack Obama blasted President Joe Biden for joining striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Tuesday.

Biden attended a picket line in Michigan Tuesday, the day before former President Donald Trump was slated to give a major speech in that state instead of attending a Republican primary debate. The UAW walked off the job at three auto manufacturing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri at midnight Sept. 15, after failing to reach an agreement with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).

“For him to be going on a picket line is outrageous,” Steve Rattner, who was the “auto czar” during the Obama administration, said in an interview, according to NBC News. “There’s no precedent for it. The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things. 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.”

“You deserve what you’ve earned and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you gettin’ paid now,” Biden said during his visit to the picket line.

The union sought a four-day work week and a 36% salary increase over five years, according to Bloomberg. Biden endorsed the union’s demand for the pay increase. The UAW has also criticized President Joe Biden’s efforts to promote electric vehicles, Politico reported.