Former President Barack Obama made the best of facing down multiple hecklers while campaigning Saturday, using the moment to drive home his message that “more people are going to get hurt” if politicians fail to reduce tensions.
The 44th president was, ironically enough, speaking about the vicious assault on Paul Pelosi and the need for everyone to lower the political temperature to prevent violence when a man in the crowd yelled out for him. Obama was taking part in a campaign event in Detriot, Michigan, for Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is facing a tough reelection fight in next month’s midterms.
“We’ve got politicians who work to stir up division to try to make us angry and afraid of one another for their own advantage,” Obama said just before being heckled. “Sometimes it can turn dangerous.”
After the man shouted: “Mr. President,” distracting the entire crowd, Obama replied: “Sir, this is what I’m saying. Look, we’ve got a process that we’ve set up in our democracy.”
“Right now, I’m talking. You’ll have a chance to talk sometime soon,” he continued. “We don’t have to interrupt each other. We don’t have to shout each other down. It’s not a good way to do business. You wouldn’t do that in a workplace, you wouldn’t just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. And this is part of the point I want to make.”
The former president went on to argue that “basic civility and courtesy works” and said he wants to encourage such behavior.
The rest of what the heckler said was not picked up by livestreams of the event.
Shortly after, another heckler began shouting from the same side of the packed arena, but what exactly they were saying was also not heard on available streams.
“Do we have another person yelling at me?” Obama asked after the second interruption, sparking laughs and cheers from the crowd. The former president then told the crowd they did not have to chant to quiet the heckler, though they did anyway for a moment.
