Former President Barack Obama traveled to Pittsburgh on Thursday to urge voters to choose Vice President Kamala Harris in November, and he sent a message to one group in particular: Black men.
The choice voters have to make between the vice president and former President Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, is “not a difficult one by any means,” Obama said as he visited with a group of campaign volunteers and officials at a local office just before his appearance at a Harris rally. His message was aimed at Black male voters, who he said might not yet be on Harris’ side.
Citing “the reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities,” he called attention to what he said was waning enthusiasm for Harris compared to the support he received when he ran for president in 2008.
“They’re making up all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Obama said. “I have a problem with that.”
“Part of that makes me think that, well, they just don’t like the idea of having a woman as president, and they’re making up other alternatives and other reasons for it,” Obama continued, adding that the “women in our lives have been watching our backs all along.”
“When we have problems and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones who go out and march and protest.”
The former president’s stern words were meant to address troubling signs for Harris, such as that support among black voters remains lower than President Biden received when he won Pennsylvania in 2020, according to a poll last month by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College. Harris’s advisers and several Democratic strategists believe that if anyone can lift black voter turnout, it’s Obama.
“Obviously, he has enormous appeal to black voters,” said Democratic strategist James Carville. “He has tremendous appeal to white suburban voters, which is another big part of the coalition. And it drives Trump crazy.”
Early voting has already begun in Pennsylvania, and Harris almost certainly must win that state to defeat Trump. There she maintains a narrow lead in the polls, having overcome the significant deficit she inherited from Biden. Democrats expect high voter turnout in the state’s largest cities, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Obama remains adored by Democrats, making him a natural replacement for Harris in the campaign. More than 90 percent of Democrats and many independents view him favorably, according to an August poll by The Economist and YouGov, well ahead of other Democrats, including Biden, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
Harris was an early Obama supporter, traveling to Iowa in 2007 to knock on doors on behalf of the junior Illinois senator when she was district attorney in San Francisco.
The Pittsburgh rally was the starting point for Obama’s plans to return the favor. The former president plans to tour battleground states in the final weeks before the election to hammer home the importance of voting.
On Thursday night, before more than 4,500 people at the University of Pittsburgh’s Fitzgerald Field House, Obama largely defended Harris by launching a scathing attack on Trump. He mocked Trump for being unable to relate to ordinary Americans and, to boos, joked that he’d probably never changed a diaper or a tire. The attacks also turned serious when Obama criticized Trump’s response to deadly hurricanes that have devastated southeastern states.
Obama referred to a rally after Hurricane Helene devastated the Carolinas and Georgia, where Trump made a series of false claims. He contrasted that with visits Harris and Biden made to those states in the days afterward, where they met with emergency workers and comforted families.
“Donald Trump, at a rally, started making up stories about the Biden administration withholding aid in Republican areas and diverting it to give to undocumented immigrants,” he said. “He just made that stuff up.”
“Everybody knew it wasn’t true,” he said. “Even local Republicans said it wasn’t true.”
Obama said Trump’s accusations carried serious consequences because they could deter people from seeking help.
“The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments,” he said, “and my question is: When did that become acceptable?”
Obama acknowledged the frustration how people feel in the wake of a pandemic that wrecked the economy, which has been a vulnerable spot for Harris’ campaign.
“I understand why people want to change things,” she said. “What I can’t understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump is going to change things in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania.”
“There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anyone but himself,” she added.
Obama also used Trump’s record to broaden his call to all men to support Harris.
“And by the way, I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think that Trump’s behavior of bullying and belittling people is a sign of strength,” she said. “And I’m here to tell you that is not true strength. It never has been.”
“True strength is working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining,” she continued, her voice rising to a shout. “True strength is taking responsibility for your actions and speaking the truth even when it’s not convenient. True strength is helping people in need and standing up for those who can’t always do it for themselves. That’s what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that’s what I want to see in whoever is president of the United States of America.”
