Michelle Obama urged Democrats to offer real solutions to the nation’s problems instead of quick retorts to attacks from their rivals.
“That’s the one thing people ask me about, in this climate, how do you find it in yourself to go high and here’s the thing, going high is a long-term strategy because the truth is, going high is about thinking about trying to really get to the real answer, because a lot of time the low answer is our immediate instinct. It’s just, I’m mad, I want to punch you in the face, but it doesn’t solve anything,” the former first lady said Saturday at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.
“And if we’re thinking about what the agenda is, which is getting to a place where we all live in a country where we’re proud to pass on to our kids, going high is the only way we get there. It’s our patience, our tolerance, it’s our belief in honesty and truth, it’s our belief in hard work,” she said. “It’s not about getting somebody back, it’s not about the immediate clapback. The immediate clapback is just for your own selfish purpose right there in the moment and rarely does it solve anything.”
Obama’s comments follow Joe Biden comparing President Trump to a bully he would “smack” in the mouth as a child.
“The idea that I’d be intimidated by Donald Trump — he’s the bully that I knew my whole life,” the 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner told CNN in an interview that aired Friday. “He’s the bully that I’ve always stood up to. He’s the bully that used to make fun when I was a kid that I stutter, and I’d smack him in the mouth.”
It’s not the first time Biden, who served as President Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years, has suggested he wanted to beat up Trump.
In October 2016, Biden said he wanted to take the then-Republican nominee out “behind the gym.”
Biden should not expect an endorsement from the Obamas in the primary, the former first lady said.
“The general election is so important that we have to get behind whoever comes out of that primary, so we’re watching everyone, we’re supporting everyone, we’re giving advice to whoever seeks it,” she said.
