PITTSBURGH, PA – On the campaign trail for the first time for Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama repeatedly took aim at former President Trump on Thursday at a large rally in arguably the most important battleground state in the 2024 election.
Pointing to the margin-of-error race between Harris and Trump with less than four weeks to go until Election Day and early voting already underway across much of the country, Obama acknowledged that “this election’s going to be tight, because there are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there.”
“What I cannot understand is how anyone would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that’s good for you Pennsylvania,” the former president emphasized, to cheers from the crowd.
Obama, referring to polls that indicate many Americans think the economy was better during Trump’s four years in the White House than under the current administration, claimed that “the reason some people think” times were better was “because it was my economy. We had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him. It wasn’t something that he did.”
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Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event in support of Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 10, 2024. REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki (REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki)
“Just in case everybody has a hazy memory… he didn’t do nothing except those big tax cuts,” which Obama argued only benefited wealthy Americans and big businesses.
Obama, who remains extremely popular with Democrats eight years after leaving the White House, argued that “there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”
And he reiterated that “Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”
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Obama jabbed at Trump for his constant attempts to “sell you stuff. Who does that? Selling you gold sneakers and a $100,000 watch and most recently a Trump bible…. you could not make this stuff up. If you saw it on Saturday Night Live, you’d say ‘well that’s going too far.’ Well, he’s doing that. It’s crazy.”
And Obama stressed that “we don’t need a president who will make problems worse to just to make his own political circumstances better. We need a president who actually cares about solving problems and making your life better and that’s what Kamala Harris will do.”
During the rally, Obama also discussed manhood and had a message for male voters who may be attracted to Trump’s perceived strength.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Riverfront Sports, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
“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 sons.”
And he emphasized that “is what I want to see in a President of the United States of America.”
Asked for a response, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News “If anyone cared about what Obama says, Hillary Clinton would’ve been president.”
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The choice of Pittsburgh as Obama’s first stop was no surprise. It’s the largest city and Democratic stronghold in Pennsylvania, which is the biggest prize of the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 White House victory over Trump and will likely determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election.
The crowd at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse at the University of Pittsburgh listens to former President Barack Obama, on Oct. 10, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Obama isn’t the only former Democratic president to hit the campaign trail on behalf of the vice president.
The Harris campaign announced that former President Bill Clinton, a longtime Arkansas governor who later won election and re-election to the White House, will stop Sunday and Monday in parts of Georgia before heading on to North Carolina later in the week for a bus tour.
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It’s part of Clinton’s efforts to court rural voters in the two crucial southeastern battleground states.
Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, officially endorsed Harris for president in July, five days after President Biden ended his 2024 re-election in a blockbuster announcement.
The former president made the case for Harris during a headlining address at the Democratic National Convention in August in his hometown of Chicago, saying she “is ready for the job.”
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama appear on stage in between their addresses on the second night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Harris and Obama’s friendship goes back 20 years to when they met on the campaign trail while he was running for Senate in Illinois. And Harris was an early supporter of his 2008 presidential campaign and even knocked doors for him in Iowa ahead of the caucus, the Harris campaign noted.
While Thursday’s rally was Obama’s first appearance on behalf on the presidential campaign trail, he’s helped raise $80 million for the Democratic nominee, including headlining a top-dollar fundraising last month in Los Angeles, according to Harris aides.
Obama aides and the Harris campaign say the Pittsburg rally is the first of numerous coordinated “get out the vote” stops by the former president across the country in the closing stretch of the 2024 White House campaign.
They add that Obama will also sign additional fundraising emails, record candidate-specific ads and robocalls for down-ballot races.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania (left) listens to former President Barack Obama at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Oct. 10, 2024