Obama’s Admonishing Tone to Black Men Presents a Risk for Democrats

The former president’s remarks that some Black men are not “feeling the idea” of a female president were blunt and urgent, but also potentially alienating for a vital group of Democratic voters.

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Former President Barack Obama campaigned on Thursday in Pittsburgh for Vice President Kamala Harris. Beforehand, he suggested that Black men were “coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses” not to vote for her.

When former President Barack Obama admonished some Black men who he said were not “feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” some Democrats saw it as an urgent, necessary call to action to voters who are desperately needed to push Vice President Kamala Harris to victory.

For others, Mr. Obama’s tone threatened to scapegoat some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters, alienating voters who may have grown disillusioned but are still persuadable.

For Mr. Obama, it was a remarkable, if calculated, risk.

As he spoke on Thursday to a room of overwhelmingly Black supporters in a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, the former president quickly acknowledged that he was about to make people uncomfortable with some “truths.”

He recalled the excitement Black voters showed for his 2008 candidacy, which was integral to propelling him into history as the first Black president. He went on to say in blunt terms that he could not understand why Ms. Harris was not drawing the same level of enthusiasm — and that the hesitation was “more pronounced with the brothers.”

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Mr. Obama said. “I’ve got a problem with that.”

He added, “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.”

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