Former President Barack Obama waited until now to join the campaign trail for Harris-Walz. If I remember correctly, Obama also waited until pretty late in the campaign in 2020. He’s arguably the most high-profile and popular Democratic surrogate, and he feels like he should be the late-stage surrogate, the one making the final appeal, the final case for Democrats. Last night, Obama went to Pittsburgh for his biggest speech since the DNC. He was there with Pennsylvania’s Gov. Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey (who is apparently in a dogfight reelection campaign). Pennsylvania is a major piece of the Electoral College for VP Harris and Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania – Joe Biden won the state because of voters in Philadelphia, Scranton and Pittsburgh and the suburbs. I watched Obama’s whole speech (it was covered live on MSNBC) and I thought it was impassioned and emotional – Obama is f–king angry at Trump and he’s pissed off that so many people are still buying Trump’s horses-t.
I like that he riffed off-script a few times – talking about his surprise at how much diapers cost when Malia was a baby, then asking if anyone thinks Trump has changed a diaper and someone shouted something about Trump wearing diapers. Obama also said Trump inherited the Obama economy (true) and then destroyed it. Before this speech, Obama also stopped in a Harris-Walz field office in Pittsburgh and made a direct appeal to Black men:
Obama said he wanted to “speak some truths” and address Black men specifically, making his most direct remarks about their hesitancy in supporting Harris to date.
“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said, adding that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
Obama questioned how voters, and Black voters specifically, could be on the fence about whether to support Harris or former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences,” Obama said, ticking off a list of Harris’s policy proposals. In Trump, he added, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person … And you are thinking about sitting out?”
The former president then spoke about what he thought might be contributing to Black men’s soft support of Harris: the discomfort of some with the idea of electing the first female president.
“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
The “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” Obama said. “When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting. And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”
He went on to echo similar sentiments in his rally speech, speaking about what real masculinity is, not the whiny, petulant, self-centered, entirely fake and entirely toxic bravado Trump employs.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.