JOE BIDEN AND BARACK Obama got the band back together again Saturday, campaigning in Flint, Michigan, as an in-person team for the first time since Biden secured the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Obama called Biden his “brother,” and said his former running mate “will be a great president.”
“He made me a better president. He’s got the character and the experience to make us a better country,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama also slammed Mr. Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, and mocked Mr. Trump for being preoccupied with crowd size at his campaign events.
“Does he have nothing better to worry about? Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? What’s with the crowd size?” Mr. Obama wondered.
At the event in Detroit, Mr. Obama’s mic went out, requiring the audio system to be restarted. When he heard what happened, he joked “That’s what we’re going to do in three days! Restart the system!” Mr. Obama made small talk with the crowd while his mic was dead.
Obama –- this time serving as the supporting character for his former vice president – noted Biden’s experience and character, all while having some fun at the expense of the man who followed him in office.
“What is his obsession, by the way, with crowd size? You notice that? This is the one measure he has of success! He’s still worried about his inauguration crowd being smaller than mine. It really bugs him. He’s still talking about that!” Obama said, referring to President Donald Trump’s repeated, and inaccurate, insistence that more people showed up to his inauguration than Obama’s.
“Does he have nothing better to worry about? Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? Was he traumatized? What’s with crowds?” Obama said, laughing as he spoke to a car rally in Flint.
Obama noted that Trump’s crowds have actually worsened the COVID-19 pandemic, citing a recent Stanford University study estimating that 18 of Trump’s large, in-person rallies have caused 30,000 cases and 700 deaths.
At both events, Biden also urged people to vote, saying “we got a little complacent in the last election.” Mr. Obama talked about the importance of down ballot races, from congressional races to local district attorney races.
“That’s what voting’s about. Not making things perfect, but making things better,” Mr. Obama said.
After Biden took the stage, he praised Mr. Obama and also urged Michiganders to vote.
“That’s the difference between Joe Biden and Trump right there. Trump cares about feeding his ego, Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe,” Obama said of Biden, whom he called “a brother” to him.
Biden, in the somewhat unenviable position of having to follow a man known for his speaking abilities, remarked that Obama is “still driving (Trump) crazy,” then launched into a takedown of Trump’s record on the pandemic, the economy and protecting health care coverage for Americans during the public health crisis.
“Yesterday he had the gall to suggest that American doctors, people putting their lives on the line on the front lines to save other lives … that they are inflating the number of COVID deaths to make more money. What in the hell is wrong with this man?” Biden said of Trump, before apologizing for his language.
“It’s perverted. He may believe it because he doesn’t do anything other than for money,” Biden added.
The two men were to appear again later on Saturday in Detroit, where they were to be joined by legendary singer Stevie Wonder.
Michigan is a critical battleground in the election. Long a reliably Democratic state in the presidential election, Michigan voted for Trump in 2016 by a very narrow margin – less than a percentage point. Post-election, Democrats concluded they had not done enough to mobilize the Democratic base, especially Black voters who didn’t show up at the same levels they had in previous elections.
Polls show Biden ahead in Michigan, but the campaign – in another lesson learned from the 2016 upset – is not taking it for granted. In the waning days of the campaign, Biden, vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, their spouses and campaign surrogates will be all over the country, focusing especially on Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
On Monday, Biden, Harris and their spouses will be barnstorming across Pennsylvania, the former vice president’s birth state and one Trump almost certainly needs to secure re-election. Obama will spend Monday in Florida and Georgia, both states where a strong African American turnout could put them in Biden’s column.
“The American people have seen what the other side looks like. They have seen the abyss,” Biden said in Flint. Bu
