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President Barack Obama, father of two daughters, went full dad-mode at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Friday in North Carolina.
Obama was giving his speech when a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stood and held up a Trump poster. The crowd quickly turned on the protester, booing and then chanting “Hillary, Hillary.”
Obama tried his best to regain control of the crowd in Fayetteville, N.C.
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Hold up. Hey, hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hey,” Obama said, before slapping the podium. “Hold up, hold up, hold up. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Listen, listen, listen, listen.
It wasn’t working.
So he tried again, getting stern with the audience.
“Hey, hey, hey, listen up. Everybody, hey, hey, listen up,” he said. “I told you to be focused and you’re not focused right now. Listen to what I’m saying. Hold up.”
Then Obama went full dad.
“Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second. Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second,” he scolded. “Now listen up.”
With the crowd finally calming, Obama defended the protester.
“You’ve got an older gentlemen who is supporting his candidate. He’s not doing nothing. You don’t have to worry about him. This is what I mean about folks not being focused. First of all, first of all, hold up. Hold up. First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech,” Obama said.
“Second of all, it looks like he might have served in our military and we ought to respect that.
“Third of all, he was elderly and we’ve got to respect our elders and fourth of all, don’t boo, vote. Don’t boo, vote. Come on. Now, I want you to pay attention because if we lose focus we could have problems.”
Obama has often turned to “Don’t boo, vote” as a way of engaging audiences on the campaign trail for Clinton.
Protesters and hecklers have become commonplace at campaign events throughout the election cycle. At an event in Florida on Tuesday, a protester shouted “Bill Clinton is a rapist” as Hillary Clinton began her event. Hillary Clinton responded by saying she was “sick and tired of he negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and the anger of people who support Donald Trump.”
During the primaries, when a rally was interrupted by a Ted Cruz supporter, Trump said he’d like to “punch him in the face.” It is a clip that Clinton’s campaign has used repeatedly in ads.