A woman yelled out that Barack Obama was “fine” after the former president made references to himself growing older while speaking at a rally for Democratic voters in Detroit on Saturday.
“I have to admit that sometimes going out on the campaign trail feels a little harder than it used to,” the 44th president said to the crowd at Renaissance High School. “Not just because I’m older and grayer…”
A woman directly behind Obama responded to the 61-year-old’s self-critique by screaming that he was “finer than a mug,” suggesting he was still in pristine form in her eyes. “Mug” is a euphemism for “motherfucker” within the Black community.
While the audience laughed at the woman’s compliment, Obama asked if she could repeat herself.
“She said I was still fine,” Obama said into the mic with a smile. “I’m not gonna tell Michelle you said that, although Michelle does agree. She knows,” he said, referring to the former first lady.
A video of the interaction between Obama and the woman has garnered more than 5 million views on Twitter.
Obama was in Michigan to support Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reelection on Nov. 8 against her Republican opponent, Tudor Dixon. At the rally, Obama talked about key factors affecting the psyche of voters, including abortion and inflation, while attempting to galvanize them to participate at the polls.
While speaking about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband, Paul Pelosi, on Friday and the botched kidnapping of Whitmer in 2020, Obama was interrupted by a heckler.
The person continuously yelled, “Mr. President,” until he got Obama’s attention.
“Sir, sir, sir. Sir, this is what I’m saying,” Obama said. “Look, there’s a process that we set up in our democracy. Right now, I’m talking. You’ll have a chance to talk sometime soon.”
“We like each other, we don’t have to shout each other down — it’s not a good way to do business,” Obama continued. “You wouldn’t do that in the workplace. You wouldn’t just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. It’s not how we do things.”