Former President Obama chatted on video with Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) about working out on the campaign trail and Joe Biden’s love of aviator sunglasses.
In the nearly five-minute virtual video for the Biden campaign, Harris asked Obama to speak about his relationship with his former VP who is currently leading a White House challenge against President Trump.
“What do I need to know?” Harris asked. “Like, what’s the thing about the ice cream? He loves ice cream. Tell me about that.”
“Ice cream is big. Pasta with red sauce, he can go deep on that,” Obama responded.
“He really does like those aviator glasses,” the former president added. “He knows he looks good in them.”
Obama said the main thing to know about Biden is that “Joe has never lost his sense of why we do this.”
He teasingly warned Harris that Biden might stretch out joint events because “he will be talking to every single person.”
“But I love that about him, too,” Harris responded with a laugh. “I really do. And it’s what the people deserve, it’s what they want. People want to be seen and Joe sees people — through those aviator glasses and without them.”
The pair chatted about life on the campaign trail, with Obama reminiscing about how “grueling” it can be on the road.
Harris said she works out every morning, regardless of how much sleep she’s had, to start off her day.
“There were times when I was like in a little Iowa town and the only treadmill was in the back of a beauty salon,” Obama recalled with a smile. “And I’d be walking by the women who would be looking like ‘Why is this guy there?’”
Harris said she loves to listen to Mary J. Blige and take a break to FaceTime with the kids in her life to “get a sense of the world through their eyes.”
“The other thing that I think for me was always great was those moments, and you never knew when they’d come, when you just have a conversation with maybe it’s a security guard in a building or maybe its some young kid who runs up and say they ran for student council and ‘Do you have any advice?’” Obama said. “Just those interactions, somebody one-on-one.”
“People in our country, they really are full of hope, right?” Harris responded. “There’s a lot that gives them a reason to be concerned about the future, but there’s also a lot that folks just carry in their hearts and their spirit that is truly born out of optimism.”
“So when you have those conversations, and you know, people share with you their hardships, but also they’re there because they also believe that things are possible,” she continued. “That all things are possible. And I agree with you — those interactions, those one-on-one interactions really do inspire and help you to keep it real. And obviously that is critical if we are to lead effectively.”
The clip ended with Obama reminding Harris to get enough sleep and stay healthy during the campaign.
“I’m going to be going everything I can, and Michelle will be too, to make sure that we have a good Election Day,” Obama concluded.