Former President Barack Obama wasn’t afraid to go off-script during an appearance in Erie, Pennsylvania, discussing violence in the Middle East as an impromptu topic.
Nearly 8,000 people packed Erie Insurance Arena for the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit event to hear Obama discuss bipartisanship in government, political violence and artificial intelligence’s role in society.
But Pittsburgh-area resident Morgan Miller was impressed that he was willing to discuss the war in Gaza when confronted by a heckler.
“I was not expecting him to continue to speak about this issue, because it's, again, not very commonly brought up in certain political environments," Miller said. "But he immediately brought up as soon as it was addressed.”
Obama spent several minutes on the war in Gaza, likening the situation to caste systems that dehumanize people, leading to cruelties.
Miller and Isabella Osborne added that the 44th president impressed them by not shying away from such a contentious topic.
“He talked about very controversial topics. He covered it on both sides. That's why I agree," Osborne said. "I really liked how, even though it was controversial, he talked about how what is happening is wrong. But then again, he also talked about and, like, if he was in office, like how he would have covered it.”
The former president tackled incidents of political violence, most recently conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and before him, the shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers. Obama condemned the acts, and the dangerous implications that can come to the free exchange of ideas.
"What happened to Charlie Kirk is tragedy. What happened to the state legislators is tragedy. To be a democratic nation, you need passionate debate," Obama told the crowd.
It was very apparent he would not speak about President Donald Trump by name, but alluded to his successor several times throughout the one-hour moderated conversation, by Steve Scully, formerly of CSPAN.
Obama continued on about the ramifications and federal government reaction in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination.
"But there's confusion lately coming from the current White House suggesting that somehow we're gonna identify an enemy who is at fault, and then use that as a reason to silence debate on who are as a country?," Obama questioned, in regard to comments from Trump and other officials about liberals. "That is also wrong."
Miller said that even while talking about polarization of politics, Obama spoke in control and with "eloquence."
