Cheyanne Daniels writes for The Hill about a political misstep from the 44th president.
Former President Obama is drawing backlash for recent comments calling on Black men to turn out for Vice President Harris in November’s election.
At a campaign stump for Harris on Thursday in Pittsburgh, Obama said that despite Harris raising upward of $1 billion, “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.”
That lag in energy, he added, appears “to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I’ve got a problem with that,” he 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.”
Despite polls showing a generational divide in Black men’s support for Harris, Obama’s remarks have drawn the ire of several prominent Black Americans.
Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner argued Obama’s comments “belittled” Black men.
“Why are Black men being lectured to? Why are Black men being belittled in ways that no other voting group?” Turner said Thursday night on CNN.
She added she has a “lot of love” for Obama, “but for him to single out Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of us may not like that, we have to respect it.”
“Unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is don’t bring it here to Black men who by and large don’t vote much differently from Black women,” she said.