Former President Barack Obama on Thursday chastised black men who have not been all-out in their support of Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming it is sexism that is keeping many of them from supporting the Democratic presidential nominee.
Obama shared his feelings with a small group of voters during a surprise stop at a local Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh.
He said the lack of energy around Harris’s campaign “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
“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 that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” Obama said. “That’s not acceptable.”
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” the former president said. “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.”
He went on to say that the “women in our lives” are the ones out “marching and protesting” when black men “get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us.”
Roughly 70 percent of black voters have a somewhat or very favorable view of Harris, “with few differences between Black men and women voters on how they view the Democratic candidate,” according to an AP-NORC poll from last month.
However, a poll from the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College found Harris’s support among black voters in Pennsylvania lagging behind the support Biden received when he won the state in 2020.
Obama’s comments came as he visited the key swing state to stump for Harris, part of a larger tour of the battleground states to speak on her behalf. He remains popular in the party, with more than 90 percent of Democrats viewing him favorably, according to polling done in August by The Economist and YouGov.
Obama was in Pittsburgh on Thursday to speak at the University of Pittsburgh’s Fitzgerald Field House, in which he delivered remarks in support of Harris and shared harsh criticism of former president Donald Trump.
“I get why people are looking to shake things up,” he said. “What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania.”
“There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself,” he added.
“And by the way, I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength,” he said. “And I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is. It never has been.”