Shapiro critiques Obama’s 2008 ‘bitter’ comments on working class
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized former President Barack Obama’s infamous “bitter” comments in 2008 in an interview this week, part of a broader conversation about Democrats’ fight to win back the working class.
Obama made controversial comments during a fundraiser in San Francisco, arguing that jobs in small towns in the Midwest have disappeared over the past decade and become “clinging” to harmful beliefs.
“And they failed against the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, and each successive administration said these communities would somehow revitalize, and they didn’t,” Obama said at the time. “And it’s not surprising that they get angry, or they take to guns, or religion, or antipathy towards people who are not like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment, as a way to express their frustration.”
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Governor Josh Shapiro speaks at the Freedom Celebration Ceremony during the Wawa America Welcome on July 4, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
Shapiro told Atlantic In an interview published Wednesday, Obama’s comments likely insulted the working class rather than motivating them.
“I think his understanding of the challenges in these communities is real. But instead of offering his prescription for how to make it better, I think he insults the people who are suffering,” Shapiro said.
He compared his comments to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remarks made at a New York City fundraiser and said he sympathized with working-class voters who turned to President Donald Trump as a result.
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“We can’t ignore the fact that the election is a binary choice. So you’re asking people, at least in the final case, to choose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump,” he told The Atlantic. “We could have these kinds of theoretical conversations about Trump, but there were always people against Trump.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called out former President Barack Obama’s past comments. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Obama’s team for comment.
In the same interview, Shapiro also denied allegations made by former Vice President Kamala Harris in her book “107 Days,” which included discussions of Shapiro and others she reviewed as running mates.
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Harris said Shapiro asked his staff many questions, including “how he could arrange to borrow works by Pennsylvania artists from the Smithsonian.” He also accused her of wanting to be involved in every decision and said he reminded her that “the vice president is not a co-chairman.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (left) also criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris’ book, calling it “complete bullshit—-.” (Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is complete bullshit—-,” Shapiro said in response to the unflattering description of him in his book. “I can tell you his accounts are blatant lies.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Shapiro praised Trump as a skilled communicator but said he lied to voters to get ahead.
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Shapiro is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2028, given his status as the popular governor of a purple state.
Hanna Panreck of Fox News contributed to this article.
