Barack Obama has taken a swipe at Donald Trump’s parenting prowess, prompting a spot of audience participation that saw laughs ring out at the Democratic rally in Pittsburgh last night.
Praising Kamala Harris‘s proposed policy to grant parents of newborns a $6,000 child tax credit, he said: “She wants to make it easier to afford stuff like a crib, or a car seat or diapers.”
“I remember changing diapers,” he added, before asking the rally: “Do you think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?”
The audience laughed heartily as someone in the crowd responded: “His own!”
Obama, who has two daughters, pointed to the audience member and replied: “I almost said that but I decided I shouldn’t say it.”
Obama hit the campaign trail on Thursday in the key swing state of Pennsylvania as he aims to boost support for Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to persuade undecided, black male voters.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Pittsburgh on October 10, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
During his speech, the former Democratic president said: “Instead of giving more tax breaks to billionaires and raising prices on working families, Kamala will give a tax cut to 100 million middle-class and working people here in America.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign communications director, said in a statement: “Barack Hussein Obama couldn’t even make a coherent defense of Kamala Harris’ record because even he knows she represents a disastrous four years of skyrocketing inflation, an out-of-control border, and rampant crime that terrorizes communities across the country.”
Former President Barack Obama talks with Vice President Kamala Harris during an event about the Affordable Care Act, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
After President Joe Biden withdrew from the race following a disastrous debate, Obama endorsed Harris’s bid for the White House.
Obama said that Harris would “make an excellent president” and pledged that he and former first lady Michelle Obama would “do everything we can to make sure she wins in November.”
Polls show a neck-and-neck race between Harris and former President Donald Trump, with a new Quinnipiac poll out on Wednesday showing Harris up three points in Pennsylvania. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percent.
During Obama’s election campaign at the same time in 2011, Obama was neck and neck with former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
According to a Pew poll from 2021, Romney has drawn even with Obama in the presidential race among registered voters (46% to 46%) after trailing by nine points (42% to 51%) in September.
This suggests there is still time left for the polls to flip as Trump and Harris continue campaigning over policy to sway undecided voters and independents.
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