Former President Barack Obama confronted a heckler who interrupted him while he was discussing the attack on Paul Pelosi at a campaign rally in Detroit Saturday ahead of the midterm elections.
Obama, 61, was stumping for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Michigan Democrats when he blamed violent political rhetoric for the attack on the House Speaker’s husband.
Pelosi, 82, was attacked with a hammer Friday by a man that broke into his San Francisco home looking for the Democratic leader, police said.
Homeless suspect David DePape, 42, is tied to conspiracy theory blogs and had posted racist and transphobic remarks online in addition to spreading false information about the COVID pandemic and the 2020 election.
Former President Barack Obama blamed violent political rhetoric for the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. REUTERS
Former President Barack Obama paused to offer a “prayer” for his “friend” Paul Pelosi. Getty Images“We got politicians who work to stir up division to try to make us angry and afraid of one another for their own advantage, and all of it gets amped up, hyped up 24/7 by social media,” the two term president said at the rally.
“And sometimes it can turned dangerous,” Obama said, before pausing to offer a “prayer” for his “friend” Pelosi.
“Mr. President,” a protestor then interrupted with ensuing comments that were not heard on the microphone.
“Sir, this is what I mean,” responded Obama.
“Sir, we’ve got a — there is a process that we 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.”
Obama was interrupted about seven minutes later by another heckler, footage showed.
Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer Friday by a suspect who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home. AFP via Getty Images“Do we have another person yelling at me? Is that what you’re doing?,” he asked.
The Democrat said the political bipartisan climate was less civil than when he first ran for president in 2008.
“These days just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with two things: owning the libs, ‘aw man we’re gonna own the libs,’ and getting Donald Trump’s approval.”







