Former President Barack Obama has been hitting the campaign trail in the final stretch before the midterm elections on Nov. 8. And while the help isn’t out of the ordinary, MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart wants to know why it’s not President Biden making the final rounds.
During an interview with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Capehart played a clip of the 44th president at a campaign event in Milwaukee on Saturday.
"They had long hours and sore backs, and bad knees, to get that Social Security,” Obama said. “If Ron Johnson does not understand that, if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands that seniors who worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he is not the person who is thinking about you and knows you and sees you and he should not be your senator from Wisconsin!"
“Quite the passionate statement from the former president,” Capehart reacted. “My question is, why is the former president making this case and not the current president?"
“So, I would disagree with that characterization of your question or how it was characterized there,” Jean-Pierre responded.
"Congressional Republicans are trying to take away our Social Security. They want to chop it off, they want to chop off, they want to put it on the chopping block," she continued. "The president has said this, which is why he has taken every action he can to make sure we strengthen Medicare, right? That's why the Inflation Reduction Act has been very important and critical, which is going to lower costs for Americans."
Jean-Pierre insisted President Biden has been discussing economic issues every day.
"The things we saw the former president, President Obama so passionately speak about are the things that are at stake, right? But also the work that the president, President Biden and Vice President Harris, have done to get our economy back on its feet for the last 20 months," she said.
Capehart wasn't the only one to question Obama's last minute efforts.
"I think the fact he’s out there also tells you what we know about the election. Joe Biden can’t be out there. So this is the only person they can put out," said CNN's Scott Jennings. "Democrats have bet everything on abortion, everything. And with nine days to go, it’s Social Security, it’s Medicare, it’s fear, it's — and finally it’s we made a huge mess, and what are you going to do to clean it up? It’s too late. It’s not going to work."