Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on the saying "Don't fall for the okey-doke" with a focus on Barack Obama's inclusion of that saying before he became a United States President as well as during and after his presidency.
This post showcases a YouTube video of former President Barack Obama's inclusion of that saying in his October 24, 2026 midterm election speech in Detroit Michigan. An excerpt of the transcript of that video is included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/barack-obamas-inclusion-of-saying-dont.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post focuses on Barack Obama's inclusion of inclusion of the African American saying "Don't fall for the okey-doke" before he became a United States President, during, and after his presidency.
The content of this post is presented for historical, political, etymological, and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to President Barack Obama for his political and cultural legacy. Thanks to the videographer and publisher of this video on YouTube.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO - Barack Obama reacts to Republican attacks on Abdul
El-Sayed's name: 'This stuff didn't work on me'
USA TODAY, Oct 24, 2026
Former President Barak Obama responded to attacks by
republicans on Abdul El-Sayed name, referencing a controvery started by then
New York real estate mogul Donald Trump over Obama's birth certificate. Trump's
claims that Obama's birth certificate was fake were untrue, and ultimately
didn't prevent Obama from winning re-election.
"We've seen this movie before," Obama said. "This stuff didn't work on me. Not in Michigan. It's not gonna work on Abdul."
-snip-
The saying "We are not gonna fall for the okey-doke" is given at 1:31 in this video.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT THIS TRANSCRIPTION
This transcription is given from 0.00 t0 5:29 of this YouTube video's automated transcript video:
This transcript is mostly given "as is" without any time stamps.
Two exceptions to that statement are my corrections of the spelling for the term "okey-doke" that was given as "okie-do" [around 1:31 in that transcript] and my replacement of the name "Abdul" for the words "I do" that is given before the words "didn't like some of the things you did as president.." [around 2:28 of that transcript.]
This transcription also includes two instances of changing the punctuation for the sentence that is given around 3:17 of that transcript.
In that video's automated transcript that sentence is given as "You think I'm I'm speaking facts now?"
My transcription gives that sentence as "You think I'm - I'm speaking facts now."
My addition of a hyphen indicates that former President Obama was going to say something else, but switched to the words "I'm speaking facts". Those words are often shortened online and offline to the word "Facts" and means that the person wants to emphasize that words that are being said are really the truth.
Former President Obama wasn't asking the rally attendees if they thought he was speaking facts (telling the truth). With that remark (given as an aside) , he was emphasizing that he was speaking facts (telling the truth) that his wife, Michelle Obama, doesn't agree with everything he says and lets him know that.
As it is given in that transcript, that sentence doesn't make any sense as a question in either African American Vernacular English or in standard English.
I believe that this particular transcript correction is an example of why it's important to factor in cultural nuances into transcriptions.
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EXCERPT OF THE AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS VIDEO
"Now, I almost and I I emphasize almost feel bad for their Republican opponents.
Almost because after spending the last couple
years, just singing this president's praises, doing
anything he asked.
They've now come to realize, oops, folks are
kind of upset with all these broken promises. So, so what
are they doing? Well, there are a number of strategies.
Number one, they're pretending they've never heard of the
guy.
Donald who? What? No, you know, don't know the guy. They avoid the subject ey're doing, which is part for the course, is running all kinds of scary ads to make you think Democrats or radicals or communists or jihadists or the woke police that will come arrest you and force feed you tofu instead of hamburgers.
We are not going to fall for that
okey-doke.
We are not going to be bamboozled
like that.
We're clear about the choice in this
election.
Abdul is fighting for change. Real
change. [cheering] Change that will bring an end to this war.
[cheering]
Change that will get
money out of politics and put money in your pocket.
[cheering]
Change that will
finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee
quality affordable healthcare to every single American.
[cheering]
He's taking on He's taking on crony capitalism and corrupt politics that only benefits people with enough money and power to game a broken system in Washington at your expense.
And and and I'm you hear people say this is somehow radical. What What is radical about that? Wanting everybody to have healthcare, how's that radical?
Wanting everybody to have a place
to live that they can afford. How is that radical?
Now, it doesn't, by the way, I you
know, I want I want to talk about this. Some some of these folks say,
"Well, you know, Abdul didn't like some of the things you did as president."
Let me tell you something.
We are not going to agree on every
detail of every issue,
[cheering]
you know. Yeah. So, Abdul didn't agree with some some things we wanted to do that we our administration was doing when I was president. You know who else doesn't agree with everything I I do?
Michelle Obama.
[cheering]
Michelle
Obama. I'd say about five times a day, says, "You you
knucklehead." What? Why you do that?"
You think I'm - I'm speaking facts
now.
Disagreeing on means is different
from disagreeing on ends on on our goals.
We when people who share your
fundamental values are are are arguing for I think we can go this way and do it that way.
That's the kind of disagreement we want in a democracy.
And Abdul shares my values of
wanting everybody to get healthcare. who shares my values. That if you work
hard every day, you should
[cheering]
have a
living wage.
And you should be able, if you're a
young person starting a family, to be able to buy a house that you can afford.
And that you shouldn't have to pay
six bucks every time you fill up a tank of gas to get to work.
We share those values of making sure everybody gets a fair shot in this society and that the system's not just run for those at the top for the high and mighty, those who can afford a lobbyist.
And I can also tell you this from experience. Whenever a movement builds to challenge that broken system, the people who benefit from the status quo will say and do anything to stop that train from coming.
They will use lies and they will use fear and they will use division and they may even use your name or your faith to somehow suggest that you are dangerous and and less than trustworthy and less patriotic and less American than they are. We have seen this movie before. I starred in it.
I was I'm I'm I'm I'm the I I was I
was I I I've got a a long form birth certificate." ....
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This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
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