Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left, during a “Get Out the Vote Rally” at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Mich., on October 29, 2022.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
Former President Obama was interrupted by a heckler as he spoke about the attack on Paul Pelosi.
Obama remarked on the assault during a Michigan rally, where he spoke of the need for civility.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Pelosi, was attacked in their California home late last week.
Former President Barack Obama was interrupted by a heckler during a Democratic political rally in Detroit on Saturday after he remarked on the recent assault of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
While stumping for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats, Obama spoke of the need for civility, a throwback to his calls for bipartisanship during his first presidential campaign in 2008.
“When we don’t just disagree with people, but we start demonizing them, making wild, crazy allegations about them. That creates a dangerous climate,” the former president said. “If elected officials don’t do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand up inside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt. And we’re going to be violating the basic spirit of this country.”
Immediately after Obama called on lawmakers to reject dangerous rhetoric — with his mind on the attack on Paul Pelosi, the speaker’s husband, at the couple’s San Francisco home — the heckler began yelling at the former president.
The heckler’s voice began with “Mr. President,” but trailed off and was inaudible on camera for the bulk of the exchange.
Attendees in the crowd began to chant “Obama” to drown out the protestor, although the former president was attempting to speak with the man in a conversational way, reiterating that they could both be respectful of each other without talking over one another.
—Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2022
Obama responded: “Sir, come on. This is what I mean. There is a process that we’ve set up in our democracy. Right now, I’m talking. You’ll have a chance to talk sometime soon. We don’t have to shout each other down. It’s not a good way to do business.”
He continued: “You wouldn’t do that in a workplace. You wouldn’t just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. It’s not how we do things. And this is part of the point that I want to make. Just basic civility and courtesy works — and that’s what we’re trying to encourage.”
The crowd soon became restless with the heckler’s conduct, and a security team began to escort him out of the gymnasium at Renaissance High School.
Obama, seeking to tamp down the situation, said: “Hold up. Hold up. Hold on a minute.”
The crowd then leaned into Obama’s energy at the rally, as the former commander-in-chief would go on to boost Whitmer, who is running for a second term against Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon.
Obama carried Michigan in both 2008 and 2012, but the swing state supported Donald Trump in 2016 before President Joe Biden flipped it back into the Democratic column in 2020.