Former President Barack Obama will continue a whirlwind battleground campaign tour this weekend and next week, as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remain deadlocked ahead of Election Day.
Obama held a rally in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday following a similar event in Pittsburgh earlier in October. He’ll next take his campaign blitz to Las Vegas on Saturday and Detroit and Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday before headlining a joint rally with Harris in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, their first rally together of the 2024 cycle.
Former first lady Michelle Obama will also stump alongside Harris the following weekend, marking her first appearance on the campaign trail since delivering a fiery speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Harris campaign aides have previously told the Washington Examiner that the former president will do “whatever it takes” to ensure Harris’s victory in November, and they view his campaigning as a serious boon to the vice president.
Obama’s campaign slate is heavily influenced by fears of a second Trump presidency, which he began voicing privately in July following President Joe Biden‘s debate with Trump, the Washington Post reported.
Over the summer, Obama and a host of Democratic lawmakers and party officials reportedly began voicing concerns about Biden’s age and general fitness for office, which eventually led to Harris supplanting Biden atop the ticket.
Now, Obama appears to be rolling out that same playbook against Trump, publicly questioning the former president’s mental faculties and advancing age, especially when compared to Harris.
“Have you seen him lately? I mean, he’s out there — he’s given two, two-and-a-half hour speeches, just word salads. You have no idea what he’s talking about,” Obama told his Friday crowd in Arizona before bringing up Trump’s recent town hall that ended with the former president swaying onstage and listening to music for more than a half hour.
“You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this. No, I’m not joking,” the Democratic leader continued. “So imagine it coming from a guy who wants to be given unchecked power.”
“We do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guard rails. We have had enough of arrogance and bumbling and bluster and division. America is ready to turn the page,” Obama added.
“The good news is Kamala Harris is ready to do the job. This is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice, who need a champion, somebody who was raised in the middle class, believes in the values that built this country, worked her way through college in McDonald’s, served with distinction in every office she has ever held, who is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been. That’s who Kamala is,” he closed.
Obama is specifically looking to boost Harris’s support among black men, a key voting demographic that is potentially shifting, albeit marginally, toward Trump this election.
The former president addressed the issue during a visit to Harris’s campaign field office ahead of his Pittsburgh rally, where he said he wanted to “speak some truths” to “the brothers.”
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“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,” he stated.
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama concluded. “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.”
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
