Barack Obama is back in the Sunshine State. It’s his second visit to Florida in the last four days. This time he’s in Orlando, in a key part of the state, where voters can make or break the election. One voting bloc there that is bigger than ever, comes thanks to the Puerto Ricans who moved to the state following Hurricane Maria. The former president, no doubt, had this in mind when he said:

“Imagine a president, when Puerto Rico gets hit by a hurricane, doesn’t respond just by throwing paper towels but says those are Americans and we’ve got to make sure we get them the help they need as quickly as possible. That’s what you should expect from a president.”

Obama also paid particular attention to courting the Black vote in the state, referencing remarks Jared Kushner made just yesterday that were widely criticized as racist. He teed this up by mocking the president for his comments about how he’s done more for the Black community than any other president, except maybe Abe Lincoln:

“He loves to talk about Black unemployment. Look how low black unemployment…Well, you know what? Unemployment was really high when I came in and we brought the unemployment low and kept on going low and he wants to take credit for it, says he is the best president for Black folks since Abe Lincoln… Now his advisers are out there saying, including his son-in-law, his son-in-law says white folks have to want to be successful. That’s the problem. Who are these folks? What history books do they read? Who do they talk to? Don’t read, is that what’s going on? Black unemployment hit almost 17% during the great recession ten years ago and through a lot of hearted work, Joe Biden and I helped get it down. And it kept on going down. Not because Trump did anything. And then this year because they screwed up the pandemic response, it soared back up to above 17% here in Florida, but it doesn’t have to be that way, Florida, if you go out and vote.” 

And we know one person who heard this message, Donald Trump appeared to be watching his predecessor’s speech before heading out to his own rallies today.

Watch Obama’s full speech above.