E-Paper
Barack and Michelle Obama react to Kamala Harris' VP pick Tim Walz, who gave Democrats ‘Trump is weird’ strategy
Barack Obama on Tuesday reacted after Kamala Harris officially declared Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 White House race.
Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday reacted after Vice President Kamala Harris officially declared Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 White House race.
“I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team,” Harris wrote on X.
Reacting to Harris' announcement, Walz wrote: “It is the honor of a lifetime to join @kamalaharris in this campaign. I’m all in.”
Obamas hail Harris' VP pick
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Obama issued a joint statement with former First Lady Michelle Obama on Harris' running mate. The duo hailed “outstanding” governor Walz.
“Like Vice President Harris, Governor Tim Walz believes that the government works to serve us. Not just some of us, but all of us. That's what makes him an outstanding governor, and that's what will make him an even better vice president. Michelle and I couldn't be happier for Tim and Gwen, their family, and our country,” he wrote.
Obama mentioned that when a presidential candidate picks a VP candidate, it says “a lot about who they are and what kind of president they'll be.”
He asserted that Harris has chosen an “ideal partner”, making it explicitly clear that “what she stands for.”
According to the former President, Walz not only holds the experience to be the US VP, but he has the “values and the integrity” to make America proud.
“As governor, Tim helped families and businesses recover from the pandemic, established paid family leave, guaranteed the right to an abortion, and put common sense gun safety measures in place to keep communities safe,” he noted.
Obama told his supporters that Tim's signature is his ability to “treat everyone with decency and respect”. He further hailed Walz for serving in the National Guard for 24 years and worked as a teacher and football coach before being elected to Congress.
Tim Walz, the first Democrat to publicly call Trump and Vance ‘weird’
Walz's national profile witnessed a surge after became the first Democrat to publicly characterise Trump and his running mate JD Vance as “weird” during a viral MSNBC interview, a description that Democrats have since adopted to target the former President.
The Democrats have been effectively using the term “weird” to highlight the peculiarities and contradictions in Trump and Vance's actions and policies.
Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Governor Josh Shapiro of Philadelphia lost out to Walz for the vice presidential selection.
