“Sunday in Peterborough. I tell you what, I love this state, for real,” former Vice President Joe Biden said at the Peterborough Town House Sunday afternoon. “It reminds me of my home state of Delaware in one important respect: Everybody knows everybody and that’s a good thing.”
A mellow and measured Biden opened his town hall with a heart-to-heart with voters as to why he is the best candidate in the Democratic presidential primary to go up against President Donald Trump.
“We’ve got to let people know who we are now. That’s what this election is about. They have to know we choose hope over fear,” Biden said. “… We have to choose truth over lies. We have to make it clear we choose science over fiction.”
One voter, Gary Lamoureux of Rindge, thanked Biden for “bringing hope back to the soul of the country.”
Biden said there is a lot at stake in this presidential primary.
“Number one, there is an overwhelming number of issues we have to deal with right now. But the single most consequential issue, you all know is … if we get four more years of Donald Trump it’s going to change the nature of who we are, the character of the country.”
Biden said the current acrimony between Democrats and Republicans in Washington D.C. “cannot be sustained in America. It’s not who we are.”
“I think unifying the country is absolutely critical,” Biden said, and said his experience in the U.S. Senate and as Vice President to President Barack Obama make him the man for the job.
Biden was introduced by supporter Gail Hernandez of Wilton. “I am really honored to be here today,” Hernandez said. “I believe he will fight for all our rights.”
Hernandez said she was laid off from her job this year, which was disconcerting not only because of her age but because she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma three years ago.
“So for me, my health care is a big concern. Because the Obama-Biden administration improved our COBRA benefits, which allow me to have health benefits longer than before, I have 18 months of health care,” Hernandez said. “But afterwards if the Affordable Care Act is gone, I’m going to have to start spending my retirement savings to pay my premium to pay for my health care and that could happen at any time to any of us.”
Hernandez said Biden has all of the qualities she wants in the next president. “I also want someone who can reach across the aisle, immediately. I want someone who has been there done that, but will improve on ‘been there done that.’ Make the Affordable Care Act even better than it is. Help the environment. … And finally, I want somebody who is trustworthy and honorable and generally a good person.”
Health care was on other voters’ minds. Sarah Sadowski of Concord, who previously lived in Temple, thanked Biden for his work on the Affordable Care Act and asked him how would he protect it from repeal.
“My child was born super sick and before the ACA there were lifetime insurance caps. So I really appreciate it.” she said. “I just wonder with all these efforts to end the ACA what are you going to do to ensure all children receive the health care that they need and can access the medical services that they require.”
Biden said he learned from his father, “Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity.” He went onto say that he would bolster and expand Obamacare with a plan that would cost about $750 billion over 10 years, funded by increases to corporate and capital gains tax. He said citizens could keep their current care, or buy into or receive a subsidy for Obamacare. Biden said he admires the candidates who support Medicare for All but said it would cost about $3.2 billion annually.
“I pay for everything I call for. And it still reduces the deficit in the process,” Biden said of his health care plan.
Biden got a big applause when he said the Trump economy may be growing but it’s not working for the bottom 96 percent.
Biden answered questions about how he would improve conditions for Native Americans and how he would choose a Vice President and included a story about how his mother convinced him to say yes to Obama. About 40 minutes into the hour-long event, however, Biden got fired up and passionate about climate change and gun control when a campaign staffer announced Biden could only take one more question.
“Actually could I take a couple more? Ask me about climate change. It’s my number one issue,” Biden said, and then laid out his plan for the climate. “The first thing I would do would be immediately rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.”
Biden said he would also call on the first 100 nations that are the major polluters of the world and hold them accountable if they do not take action along with the U. S. “There have to be consequences. … It requires someone who is able to bring together the rest of the world.”
When asked about gun control, Biden said the Second Amendment protects hunters and that’s fine, but people who think it is there so that they can protect themselves from the government need to rethink that. “You aren’t going to do it with an AR-15.”
He said the N.A.R. and gun manufacturers are too powerful and need to be taken on. He also said today’s technology needs to be employed to prevent individuals from using guns that they do not own, using examples of mass shooters who using stolen or family members’ guns to kill.
Biden ended his Sunday afternoon in Peterborough talking one-on-one with voters who lined up for a selfie with him.