Speaking at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in California Tuesday, President Barack Obama faced down a heckler who accused him of moving too slowly on rescinding a law that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the US military.
The heckling was the second Obama has taken at a Boxer fundraiser this year over the issue. In late April, protesters ground Obama's fundraising speech to a halt.
On Tuesday, according to a White House pool report, POTUS (President of the United States) Obama "heckled his heckler."
Speaking to a larger crowd and this time from teleprompters, Obama was in the middle of, as he called it, a trip down memory lane about the economy, when a man yelled out: "Move faster on 'don't ask, don't tell.'"
"It's good to see ya," Obama said to the man as the crowd started to boo, and the man continued to shout something your pooler couldn't hear amid all the noise
"I have to say, you know what? I saw this guy down in LA," Obama said. (POTUS was also heckled about DADT at the last Boxer fundraiser he headlined in Los Angeles.)
"Two points I want to make," Obama said of the heckler, "he really should like buy a ticket to, if he wants to demonstrate, buy a ticket to a guy who doesn't support his point of view."
The other point, Obama said, "is maybe he didn't read the newspapers because we are working with congress as we speak to roll back 'don't ask, don't tell.'"
POTUS further dinged the man: "I actually think he does read the newspapers because he wasn't as - his heart wasn't in it - he said 'Do it faster.' C'mon man..."
Video of Tuesday's heckled heckler is available below.
In April, protesters "brought the speech to a halt, and the protesters did not lower their voices after others in the crowd urged them to end their shouting," The Hill reported.
"What about 'Don't ask, don't tell?'" one protester shouted.
"We are going to do that," Obama replied. "We are going to repeal don't ask, don't tell."
Five minutes later, the protesters interrupted Obama again, shouting, "It's time for equality for all Americans," to which he responded, "Can I just say again Barbara and I are supportive of repealing don't ask, don't tell?"
This video is from The San Francisco Chronicle, broadcast May 25, 2010.
Video of Obama's speech being interrupted in April follows.
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