Former President Obama went into attack mode against Republican Tim Scott who is running for president in 2024.
Obama suggested Americans should be “skeptical” about Scott for being part of the Republican Party and allegedly ignoring issues of inequality in the country.
“There’s a long history of African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, ‘Everything’s great, and we can make it,’” Obama said.
“If somebody’s not proposing — both acknowledging and proposing — elements that say, ‘No, we can’t just ignore all that and pretend as if everything’s equal and fair.”
“We actually have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.’ If they’re not doing that, then I think people are rightly skeptical,” Obama added.
Scott responded brilliantly by calling Obama’s insulting remarks “a compliment.”
My grandfather believed what some like President Obama doubt now.
He believed in the goodness of America.
You can be bitter, or you can be better, but you can’t be both. pic.twitter.com/eySTM4dtna
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) June 26, 2023
“There’s no higher compliment than being attacked by President Obama,” Scott said. “Whenever the Democrats feel threatened, they drag out the former president and have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down,” Scott said.
America “is not a racist country,” Scott argued while pointing to his own single mother who raised him and eventually helped him win a seat in Congress.
“Here is what the people need to know: The truth of my life disproves lies of the radical left,” Scott said.
Former President Barack Obama called out how some Republicans of color downplay racial inequality, specifically naming 2024 presidential hopefuls Tim Scott and Nikki Haley.https://t.co/INIbnPjpI0
— Axios (@axios) June 17, 2023
Scott has served as the junior United States senator from South Carolina since 2013. He is the first African-American to represent South Carolina in the Senate since Reconstruction.
Born in North Charleston in 1965, Scott attended Charleston Southern University and graduated with a degree in business administration in 1988. He then worked as a financial consultant before entering politics.
Scott was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2002. He served in the House for eight years, and during that time he was the first African-American to chair the House Ways and Means Committee.
In 2010, Scott was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served in the House for three terms, and during that time he was the first African-American to represent South Carolina in the House since 1877.
Throughout his career, Scott has remained fiscally and socially conservative as well as an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump. He is married to Melanie Campbell and they share two children.
Despite the recent remarks from Obama, Senator Scott remains a popular figure among Republicans and he is seen as a rising star in the party.
