Former President Barack Obama dealt with a heckler in Arizona on Wednesday night while campaigning for Sen. Mark Kelly and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
Kelly is seeking reelection against Republican Blake Masters and Hobbs hopes to defeat Republican Karie Lake to become the state’s next governor.
Obama was delivering remarks to a large crowd in Phoenix, where he said Republicans want “an economy that’s very good for folks at the very top, but not always so good for ordinary people.”
The heckler seized his opportunity.
“Like you, Obama!” he shouted.
“Are you gonna start yelling?” Obama asked, as the crowd rained down boos upon the verbal intruder.
“Don’t start yelling,” Obama calmly told him. “Come on. Why you start yelling?”
The man continued yelling.
Perhaps sensing increasing hostility among the crowd, the former president tried to de-escalate the situation.
“Hold on, everybody,” he said. “Don’t get distracted. Hold up. Hey, young man, just listen for a second.”
The young man did not “hold up” and kept shouting.
“You have to be polite and civil when people are talking,” Obama told him.
The heckler did not relent and Obama was essentially done with the guy.
“Set up your own rally!” Obama told him. “A lot of people worked hard for this. Come on, man.”
As he spoke the man was led out of the event as people apparently jeered him.
“Hey everybody,” Obama told rally-goers. “Listen up for a second, please. This is what happens in our politics these days. We get distracted. You got one person yelling and everybody’s yelling. You get one tweet that’s stupid and suddenly everybody’s obsessed with the tweet. We can’t fall for that. We have to stay focused.”
Obama has been stumping for Democrats across the country in recent days ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. On Saturday, he also dealt with hecklers at a rally in Michigan.
Watch above via Fox 10 Phoenix.
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