Former President Barack Obama made a direct appeal to young people not to be disillusioned by the slow pace of political progress as he made his case to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency during the first episode of a new podcast hosted by NBA players.
“A lot of young men — a lot of young men — get upset and say, ‘Well, nothing happened,'” Obama told 24-year-old NBA All-Star Tyrese Halliburton and producer Tommy Alter. in a clip first shared with NBC News. “But let’s say that when I was the president, I did not cure racism, I did not eliminate poverty. But 50 million people bought health insurance. This hasn’t happened before and it’s saved lives and improved people’s lives.”
Obama added that the reason for voting is to have someone “see you, know your life, care about you” and they will make a million decisions “that will make your life a little bit better.” year.”
Podcast, “Young and ThreeIt is a rebrand of the show Old and Three, which has a large youth and male audience with over a million subscribers on YouTube.
The former president also pointed to his administration’s efforts to change the way non-violent drug crimes are federally prosecuted, saying: “During my presidency, crime has gone down and the number of people in federal prisons has gone down at the same time. It didn’t solve criminal bias or racial bias in the criminal justice system, but it made it better.”
Describing the election as “one of those moments when we have to decide who we are as a country,” Obama pointed to issues like health care, the minimum wage, civil rights and policing, warning that they are all on the ballot.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that Donald Trump is not someone who will work hard for ordinary people,” Obama said. “I think his agenda is mostly about himself. His status is ego and self-promotion.”
Obama’s appeals come as Harris did increased his efforts Gaining the support of black and Latino men, the demographic has released policy proposals in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Harris joined All the Smoke, a podcast hosted by former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
The former president was a key part of this strategy. while public opinion polls Obama shows that the 44th president is favorably evaluated by the majority of voters in important states. got a backlash At a bus stop in Pittsburgh earlier this month, he said he believes some of them are “making all kinds of reasons and excuses” to stay out of this election because they “just don’t feel the idea of having an election as a woman president.”
“This young generation, including, I would say, young people – and young people of color – all of you have come of age, you were still in school when I became president and the financial crisis hit,” Obama said in the podcast, also referring to the COVID pandemic.
“A lot of young people are coming out of school today thinking it’s going to be hard for me to match my parents’ achievements, you know? Factories closed or a lot of the jobs that were available if you didn’t have a college degree weren’t there,” he continued. “But you know what I always try to explain to people is that politics is not going to solve all the problems at once.”
Obama campaigned for the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, holding separate rallies with vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Madison, Wisconsin, and rapper Eminem in Detroit. Obama will hold a rally with Harris for the first time in Georgia on Thursday.