AS BIDEN CELEBRATES COMPUTER CHIP FACTORIES VOTERS WAIT FOR THE PROMISED PRODUCTION TO START

President Joe Biden has a great economic story to tell voters a decade from now, less so in 2024.

On Thursday, the Democratic president will head to upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology’s plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with government support. But the initial phase of the project would open the first plant in 2028 and the second plant in 2029, with more time expected for the next two factories to be completed.

Staring down a rematch with Republican Donald Trump, Biden is asking voters to believe in a vision for the U.S. economy that is still largely a promise. This at a moment when voters are most worried about enduring pressures from high inflation, which have led most to rate Biden poorly on the economy.

Biden is campaigning on the future, just as Trump, the former president, taps into a past when U.S. manufacturing was the world standard. The Democrat is trying to convince voters to think about how historians will later recall his presidency.

“We’re going to look back on this 20 years from now and be talking about what a revolutionary period this was for the country,” Biden told unionized electricians last week. “We’re going to make a real gigantic difference.”

It’s a unique message in an era of near-instant gratification. Compared to when Biden began in politics in the 1970s, people can immediately stream music and videos on their smartphones, order a pizza with finger swipe or text a friend thousands of miles away.