Former President Barack Obama is stumping for Kamala Harris, making two stops in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. The first took him to a Harris campaign office in the swing state, where Obama delivered a pointed message to the Black men in the room: Don’t let gender guide your vote.
“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,” he said, according to The Guardian. “You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses. I’ve got a problem with that.”
As his source on this supposedly slack enthusiasm, Obama cited unspecified “reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities,” but one recent poll suggests that Harris isn’t getting the same traction with Black voters that Joe Biden did. Additionally, an NAACP poll from September suggests that about 25 percent of Black men under the age of 50 may support Donald Trump over Harris.
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Speaking on that trend, Obama said, “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.” Meanwhile, he continued, the “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” particularly when it comes to protesting a “system isn’t working for us.”
“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 you think that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” he added, per a pool report. “That’s not acceptable.”
Naturally, Trump caught wind of these comments and offered a predictably coherent response on Truth Social. “Obama admits a total lack of enthusiasm for Kamala, especially with Black Men. I think Obama will be voting for me because he doesn’t like the fact that Kamala is an extremely Low IQ Person!” Evidently he missed the second of the day’s speeches, in which Obama enjoyed several laughs at Trump’s expense.
