Presidnet Obama Makes Fun Of Herschel Walker

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In a speech delivered this week in Georgia, former President Barack Obama ripped into the prospect of GOP Senate pick Herschel Walker, a former football star and serial liar about elements of his personal experience, serving as U.S. Senator.

Walker is running against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who has a long career in public service as pastor of an Atlanta church associated with Martin Luther King, Jr., and is in the middle of his first, two-year stint in the Senate. If successful, Warnock would secure a full term of six years, since at present, he’s serving the final two years of the last term of a prior Senator who retired and subsequently died. Warnock’s presence in the Senate has proven critical to securing key items on the Democratic agenda, like the Inflation Reduction Act, which contained what was billed as the largest single investment into fighting climate change by the U.S. government ever.

Walker has faced questions about his basic competency. He’s sought to characterize himself as a police officer or at least as having worked in law enforcement, despite the fact there’s no indication he has actually served as an officer, and he has spoken of a so-called military career that in reality is just speaking engagements. He has claimed to have led the largest upholstery company in the U.S. and biggest minority-owned food business in the country, neither of which were true. He claimed earlier this year to still be in the upholstery business, but two options for the entity to which he was trying to refer were already defunct when he made those claims, and no evidence indicates Walker was involved in the founding or primary ownership of either.

“Everyone can make fun, but this badge gives me the right… if anything happened in this county, I have the right to work with the police in getting things done,” Walker said in response to criticism over his law enforcement claims. If you think about it, anybody can “work with the police,” depending on circumstances. There’s no indication his status is special. Former DeKalb County district attorney J. Tom Morgan explained earlier this year that the status of “honorary deputy,” which the Walker campaign pointed to the candidate ostensibly holding in Cobb County, “absolutely means nothing” and is “the equivalent of a junior ranger badge.”

“Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player,” Obama remarked to the crowd. “In college, he was amazing. One of the best running backs of all time. But here’s the question. Does that make him the best person to represent you in the U.S. Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future? Let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s say you’re at the airport, and you see Mr. Walker. And you say, ‘Hey, there’s Herschel Walker! Heisman winner! Let’s have him fly the plane!’ You probably wouldn’t say that! You’d want to know, does he know how to fly an airplane?” The former president also shared humorous examples about having Walker work as a surgeon or welcoming the ex-commander-in-chief himself to a football team — both of which, Obama noted, wouldn’t work. Polling in Georgia remains close. Check out Obama’s remarks below: