Let's Watch Barack Obama Kick Donald Trump Right In The ... Economic Policy
Obama didn't even need a dick joke this time.
If you didn’t catch it Thursday evening, even though we so helpfully newslettered it at you, you should make sure you take 45 minutes today — your second lunch break, or while washing dishes, or during your performance review at work — to catch the speech Barack Obama delivered at a rally for Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh. It’s classic Obama: The guy knows how to deliver a speech, how to move an audience, and especially, how to needle Donald Trump and poke at all his greatest insecurities.
Sometimes Obama has been too good at that; his mockery of Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner — delivered as US troops on the other side of the planet were on their way to kill Osama bin Laden — may have been at least partly the motivation for Trump’s Rage ‘n’ Revenge-fueled campaign for the presidency, although Trump denies it. Meaning it has to be true.
But it was soooo good.
So here’s your video to enjoy, although spoiler warning, Obama did not reprise his hilarious dick joke from the Democratic convention. Some moments are sacred, and it’s wisest not to try to recapture that magic.
The upside? He didn’t even need to. He went after Trump with surgical rhetorical precision. We actually do not like this CNN title or header pic, which makes Obama look screamy, which he was not. But unlike most out there, it’s trimmed to the actual speech, not a much longer video of the whole darn rally.
Let’s enjoy a few highlights, not necessarily in order.
Here’s the moment when I said to myself, “Oh yeah, he’s having fun.” Acknowledging that inflation and post-COVID economic weirdness are still making a lot of people (falsely) nostalgic for How Things Were, Obama deftly reframed that feeling, pointing out the economic good times they yearn for had little to do with Trump:
Reminding us that he understood why people “are looking to shake things up. I mean, I am the hopey-changey guy,” Obama said they need to ask whether anything Trump shakes up would actually be good for them.
“And the reason some people think, ‘Well, I don’t know. I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good.’ Yeah, it was pretty good because it was my economy! We had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him. It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time. Just in case everybody has a hazy memory, he didn’t, he didn’t do nothing except those big tax cuts!”
Yes. Right into our veins!
Obama also went after Trump’s incredible — in the literal sense of the word — lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, pointing out how completely unlike any president ever that was:
“Donald Trump, at a rally, just started making up stories about the Biden administration withholding aid from Republican areas and siphoning off aid to give to undocumented immigrants. Just made the stuff up! Everybody knew it wasn't true. Even local Republicans said it was not true.”
Obama urged people to watch for a rerun of that following Hurricane Milton:
“We have a guy who will just lie about it to score political points, and this has consequences. People are afraid and they’ve lost everything and now they’re trying to figure out how do I apply for help? […] The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments. My question is: When did that become okay?”
While reminding the audience of Harris’s proposal to give new parents a $6,000 tax credit to help pay for their new babbies, Obama delivered the biggest laugh of the speech, with some help from the crowd.
OBAMA: I remember buying diapers. I remember the first time I went in the store right after Malia was born. I was like, “What? That’s how much diapers cost?” I remember changing diapers. Do you think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?
VOICE IN CROWD: HIS OWN!
OBAMA: Yeah. I almost said that, but I decided I shouldn’t say it.
But it wasn’t just a Trump is old and poopstinky joke: The notion of Donald Trump changing a little baby’s diaper — nope, never would happen — instantly underlined that Trump is not and has never been someone who knows how regular Americans live.
To close, let’s skip back a bit, to just after Obama tore into Trump about the hurricane lies, when he called out Republicans who glibly put up with it or refuse to challenge Trump about it. Doing that, Obama said, isn’t just cowardly or bad politics. It reinforces a false sense of what strength means.
Damn right this is a not very subtle attack on the faux manliness embraced by Trumpers.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and of putting people down is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. It never has been. Real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining. Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth, even when it’s inconvenient. Real strength is about helping people who need it, and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves.
“That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that is what I want to see in a president of the United States of America!”
And damn right he put daughters first! As it happens, Evan went into that even further at his Substack this week. Go read it, you!
Obama’s reframing of all that wasted penile fixation in the other party made for a perfect transition to his closing call to elect a president and vice president who embody that kind of strength, which is imbued with empathy and commitment to fighting for all of us, not just those who shout the loudest or have the biggest gun.
It does help to have Tim Walz on the team, since he embodies that very different vision, call it Dad Masculinity or whatever. Obama alluded to that, too, earlier in the speech:
“Tim is a veteran. He is a teacher. He’s a coach. He’s a hunter. He’s been a great governor, working with Democrats and Republicans to get stuff done. He can also take a vintage truck apart and put it back together again. You think Donald Trump can do that? For that matter, do you think Donald Trump has ever changed a tire in his life? No. I’m just trying to picture it.”
Walz should definitely challenge Trump to change a tire, is what we are saying.
[Obama speech transcript at Medium / The Moral High Ground]
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That part about the lies after Helene, and "when did that become okay?" left me in tears. I think we've always had shitty people, but this level on display and the pride people take in lying and being so mean is just heartbreaking.
The surrogate bench we have for Democrats is just unmatched. And again our rallies are better because they are positive.
"Not campaigning in X" at least shall not be some ex post facto justification people can use as a crutch if it turns out we're outnumbered by the fascists this fall.
To minimize that chance though...make sure your registration is all sorted and you are ready to go! Because we need to maximize our vote!
www.vote.org
www.iwillvote.com
Mount up!