Former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail for the first time in person Wednesday in Philadelphia to stump for his former vice president, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and Biden's running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.
In his first appearance, at a roundtable event with Black local elected officials and community leaders, Obama, wearing a mask, emphasized the importance of Black voters forming coalitions with other voters to win elections. He especially stressed the importance of getting younger Black men, who turn out less frequently, to the polls.
"It's not just that they're African American males; they're young, and young people have a lot of distractions," said Obama, whose first presidential victory in 2008 was boosted by record turnout among Black voters. "The most important thing we can do in these closing 12, 13 days, for us all, (is) to model and advertise that it's the cool thing and the right thing to do to vote."
To young people, "you don't know if it's going to work if you don't try it," Obama said, adding, "Give this a shot."
Obama's visit to Pennsylvania highlights the importance of the state that both Biden and President Donald Trump have prioritized. Philadelphia is a Democratic stronghold that Biden will need to carry the divided battleground state. Obama won Pennsylvania in 2008 and 2012, but Trump carried the state in 2016 over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, by just 44,000 votes.
"One of the biggest tricks that's perpetrated on the American people is this idea that the government is separate from you," Obama said. "The government's us. Of, by and for the people. It wasn't always for all of us, but the way it's designed, it works based on who's at the table. And if you do not vote, you are not at the table, then yes, stuff is done to you. If you're at the table, then you're part of the solution."
Obama also blasted the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately killed Black and brown Americans.
"The pandemic would have been tough for any president. We haven't seen something like this for a hundred years," Obama said, lambasting "incompetence and misinformation" and "the number of people who might not have died had we just done the basics."
Obama had largely stayed away from publicly criticizing Trump for much of Trump's presidency. But the former president has taken an increasingly public role in support of Biden, including giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention in which he said, "Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't."
