Former President Obama joined the campaign trail for the final stretch Thursday with some “truths” for men, especially Black men, who he said were not delivering the enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris that they did when he was running for president.
He told a group of campaign volunteers in Pittsburgh they have “a choice that is clear” between someone who “grew up like you, knows you,” understands the same struggles and triumphs and has concrete proposals to make life better, and “someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person.”
Obama said he had a problem with men who are “coming up with all kinds of excuses” to sit out the election or vote for former President Trump.
“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,” he said.
He said it was not acceptable that some men are “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?”
The comments underscore the urgency Democrats are feeling in an election that remains a virtual toss-up with less than a month to go. Pennsylvania is the biggest of seven battleground states that are neck and neck in the polls and likely to decide the election.
The same polls show Harris with a wide lead among female voters but at a deficit with Trump among men. Harris is overwhelming ahead with Black men but Trump has been courting them, and polls suggest Harris has work to do to motivate them to come to the polls. Their impact could be especially large in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where both campaigns are making concerted efforts to appeal to them.
Trump may not have helped his own case Thursday when, speaking in Detroit, he disparaged the majority-Black city.
“Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s elected president,” Trump said at the Detroit Economic Club, speaking of Harris. “We’re not going to let her do that to this country.”
Speaking to reporters at the Las Vegas airport Thursday, Harris called out Trump’s comment. “It is great to be back in Las Vegas. … By contrast, my opponent, Donald Trump, has yet again trashed another great American city, Detroit.”
Trump’s remarks echoed his labeling of Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a 2018 White House meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. He has also falsely accused Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, of stealing cats and dogs to eat them.
Obama did not reference those comments directly. But when he spoke for 45 minutes Thursday night at a large rally in Pittsburgh, he devoted most of his speech to the contrast between the two candidates’ personal qualities.
“It’s not just about policies that are on the ballot,” Obama said. “It is about values and it is about character.”
Obama touted Harris’ stances on abortion, the Affordable Care Act and economic programs designed to help low-income people buy homes. He portrayed Trump as an old rich guy who complained and cared only about lowering taxes for people like himself and cast blame for all of the nation’s problems on immigrants. He eviscerated the former president for lying to victims of the recent hurricanes about the federal government’s efforts to deliver relief.
“If you had a family member who acted like that, you might still love him, but you’d tell him, ‘You got a problem,’” Obama said. “And you wouldn’t put him in charge of anything.”
“And yet, when Donald Trump lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls POWs losers or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it,” Obama continued. “They think it’s OK. They think, well, at least he’s, he’s owning the libs.”