Barack Obama says JD Vance's marriage exposes his 'hypocrisy'

Former President Barack Obama took a shot at Vice President JD Vance, claiming his marriage contradicts his own hardline views on American identity and exposes his hypocrisy. Bringing up Usha Vance, a U.S. citizen born to Indian immigrants, Obama claimed it was hypocritical for Vance to marry her and oppose birthright citizenship, but according to him it was still progress, as he may still be thinking that he is either lying to himself or others, instead of thinking he's not wrong.

Speaking on a podcast with Malcolm Gladwell,  Obama talked in detail about the current administration's push to restrict birthright citizenship, and without naming Vance directly, he launched an attack on the vice president's ideology. "When you have the current Vice President making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of 'We the People'. That it matters who your parents were and how long they've been here, despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself," Obama said. 

The former president appeared to be referring to a speech Vance gave at a conservative think tank last year, where he declared, “America is not just an idea. We’re a particular place, with a particular people, and a particular set of beliefs and way of life.” In the speech, the current vice president rejected the idea that America is a “purely creedal nation” and railed against people who supposedly argue that only those who believe in “progressive liberalism” are American. “I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong,” he concluded. 

As Obama spoke of the speech, host Gladwell argued that Vance's marriage is a “lovely illustration” of how the country has moved “from malice to hypocrisy,” noting that a vice president wouldn't be able to make a "nativist argument" a century ago while being married to the daughter of Indian immigrants. “Listen, hypocrisy is progress,” Obama responded, adding that "it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others. And that is better than not even thinking about the idea that maybe you’re doing something wrong.” 

Vance is married to Usha, who gained citizenship at birth after her parents had immigrated from India to the U.S. Together, she and Vance are raising three children and expect a fourth soon, and despite that, the vice president continues to aggressively back the executive order from President Donald Trump, ending automatic birthright citizenship for children of undocumented or temporarily documented parents. Last month, the Supreme Court rejected that order in a 6-3 ruling reinforcing the 14th Amendment's protections that made the order unlawful. Vance has since called the decision a "major mistake."