President Barack Obama’s recent rally comments in Georgia seem to have hit a nerve with Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Campaigning for Walker’s Democratic opponent, Reverend Raphael Warnock, the former president spoke to a crowd about both candidates’ relative abilities to lead.
Obama went viral in a clip where he discussed Walker, who has already earned widespread criticism for alleged hypocrisy in his anti-choice politics and for his random bouts of word salad. At a rally to fire up voters for Warnock, Obama told the audience that Walker’s star power and football prowess were not qualifications for other fields.
“I don’t wanna fly a plane! I’m not a pilot. I’m a football player, I’m a politician, I’m a lover,” Walker said, in a rambling response to Obama’s observations.
He seemed to be trying to fire back, even suggesting Obama should “go back to” his home in Chicago — although he became derailed in trying to figure out where the former president lives.
He also seemed to feel slighted by Obama on a larger scale, complaining:
“I’m not a celebrity, because all he do is hang out with celebrities. He never hung out with me. I probably wouldn’t hang out with him anyway.”
In the clip below, Walker can be seen trying to change the subject, but coming back to his grievances:
“Let me get off him, because he’s not even running in this election, so why am I talking about him…Hey, I built my own company, but [Warnock] never built a company, and I don’t think Obama built one, either, did he?”
“I’m not a pilot. I’m a football player, I’m a politician, I’m a lover … I’m that warrior for God that [Obama] should have been when he was born but he’s not.”
— Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker fires back at former President Obama for slamming his lack of experience pic.twitter.com/sXMyfhEPYV
— The Recount (@therecount) October 31, 2022
Polls continue to show a close race between Warnock and Walker, with barely over a week to go until election day, despite Walker being hit with scandals, including his son speaking out against him as a candidate, and two apparent exes coming forward to say that he pressured them to abort pregnancies — and that he paid for those abortions.
Obama told a crowd to try a thought experiment:
“Let’s say you’re at the airport and you see Mr. Walker. You say ‘hey, there’s Herschel Walker, Heisman Trophy winner, let’s have him fly the plane. You probably wouldn’t say that. You’d wanna know, does he know how to fly a plane.”
As Walker said, “I’m not a pilot.”
If you would ask most Democrats, he’s not a senator either
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
