During a stop at a pre-campaign rally in Pittsburgh on Thursday, former President Barack Obama appeared to admonish black Americans who were not as enthusiastic about supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid as they were in 2008 and 2012. It was.
Mr. Obama stopped by his Steel City campaign office and took to the stage with Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. in the late afternoon.
The prominent Democrat said he has noticed a difference in excitement about the current Democratic candidates, especially among African Americans.
“We still haven't seen the kind of vibrancy and turnout that we saw when I was running in every corner of our neighborhoods and communities,” Obama said.
“Now, I would also like to say that it seems to be more pronounced among the brothers, but if you don't mind, I just want to talk to you all about something. This is a very clean choice. On the other hand. , if there was someone who grew up like you, went to college with you, and understands the pain (and) joy that comes from that experience…”
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President Obama then went on to contrast that vision (presumably Harris's) with that of former President Trump, according to some reports.
President Obama appears to be continuing his treatment of black Americans, calling out the real estate tycoon-turned-politician as someone who has “consistently shown disregard for not just your community, but for you as a person.” “And are you thinking of leaving?”
The 44th president also said many people concerned about Harris are coming up with “all kinds of reasons and excuses” to sit home or support another candidate.
“Looking at that art makes me think, and I'm speaking directly to men…well, you just don't feel the idea of having a woman as president, and you have other alternatives and other I'm figuring out why. ”
Reacting to comments on Fox News Channel, “Jesse Watters Prime Time” host Jesse Watters said President Obama's comments indicate that he believes Harris' popularity has “officially reached a plateau.” He said this is proof that there is.
“He was just caught saying this in Pittsburgh,” Watters said before playing a clip of President Obama.
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Former President Barack Obama pauses during his speech on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on August 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. (Reuters/Alyssa Poynter)
Additionally, former DeKalb County, Georgia, Executive Vernon Jones, a longtime Democrat who joined the Republican Party in 2021, responded to X, saying Obama was sent by “white liberals” to “blame black people” and why fellow African-Americans should vote. Harris.
“No, BO, black people are tired of you and Kamala Harris,” Jones said in part.
Conservative commentator Benny Arthur Johnson called the comment “sickening.”
“Obama has descended into a politics of racial hatred in its final stages,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Biden similarly caused a stir by admonishing Black Americans who were confused ahead of the 2020 election.
In May 2020, during an interview with the New York City radio show “The Breakfast Club” from his home studio in Greenville, Delaware, Biden said his wife, Jill, would soon need to use the same studio.
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Halperin added that an internal investigation revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign was in “tremendous difficulty.” (ABC/The View)
“Do you have any more questions?” he asked host Charlamagne the God on the subject. “Well, I'm telling you, if you can't decide whether you support me or Trump, you're not black.”
After the exchange went viral, Biden said at the time: “I shouldn't have been this smart.”
In response to President Obama's visit to Pittsburgh, Kush Desai, a spokesperson for Team Trump of Pennsylvania, said, “If we have to fly Barack Obama in from his $12 million Martha's Vineyard estate, the Democratic Party… Things are not going to go well for…''
“It will probably be a little more liberal than what other Kamala representatives are doing to change policy, but President Obama's visit will give Pennsylvanians four more years of open borders, It will not persuade them to vote for the upswing and the catastrophe” at home and abroad. ”
In a statement after Obama's remarks, Desai said that Obama should “convert America through his complaints with Netflix, instead of looking down on Pennsylvanians to their faces.”
