Obama appeals to young voters in podcast with Pacers star

During an appearance on “The Young Man & the Three” basketball podcast, former President Barack Obama urged young people — specifically addressing young, male voters — to vote in the upcoming election.

“I think that’s the main message that I have for folks,” Obama said during the episode, “it’s not that hard to vote.”

Obama has been on the campaign trail, stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee opposing former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. With the general election fewer than two weeks away, Harris and the Democrats have been trying to reach young men of color.

Indiana Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and podcaster Tommy Alter led the conversation with Obama in the podcast, which published Wednesday morning.

Obama acknowledged the challenges facing young men in the country today, alluding to lingering effects of the financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic against the pressures to own a home and support a family amid rising costs.

“A lot of young men today are coming out of school feeling like, ‘It’s going to be hard for me to match what my parents achieved,’ ” Obama said. “That the factories have closed, or that a lot of the jobs that used to be available if you didn’t have a college degree aren’t there. Or maybe even if you’ve got a college degree, maybe because of cost of living, it’s going to be hard for me to buy a house or support a family in the same way. So, they get frustrated, and I get that.

“The thing I always try to explain to folks is that politics is not going to solve all problems all at once. The reason you vote is because you vote for somebody who can see you, knows your life, cares about you, and they’re going to be making a million decisions during the course of their presidency and are they always keeping you in mind and what’s good for you when they’re making those decisions.”

Obama used his presidency as an example. He raised the passing of the Affordable Care Act, which insured millions of Americans who otherwise did not have coverage, and also mentioned the prosecution of non-violent drug offenses and how it affected racial inequities in the penal system.

 “The idea that we wouldn’t just spend half an hour to vote,” Obama said, before addressing young people. “ ‘So, let me get this straight: you’re not going to vote, which means old people decide your future. You wouldn’t do that about your music. You wouldn’t do that about your clothes. But you’re going to let them decide what your future, your potential careers, what the environment’s going to look like? You’re going to let them decide that? You’re just going to opt out? That doesn’t make any sense.”

During the podcast, Obama also directly criticized Trump, saying he’s “not somebody who is going to work hard on behalf of ordinary people” and his belief that Trump’s agenda “is basically about himself, his status, his ego, his self-promotion.”