Obama Compares Trump To The Internet Meme "Florida Man" (with information about "Florida Man" & A Definition of "Drive-In Rally")

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams presents a definition for "drive-in rallies" and presents an excerpt from former President Barack Obama's October 24, 2020 voter mobilization "drive-in" rally* in North Miami, Florida. In his speech, Obama compared trump to the internet meme "Florida Man". 

A definition of the term "drive-in rallies" is included in this pancocojams post.

Information about the internet meme "Florida man" is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for political, cultural, and linguistic purposes.

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to Barack Obama for his strong leadership and positive role modeling. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video of that speech on YouTube . 

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WHAT IS A "DRIVE-IN RALLY? [Revised Nov. 1, 2020]
A "drive-in rally" (also referred to as "drive-in car campaign rally) is a new form of political event which was conceptualized and is being utilized by Democrats during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic instead of hosting large gatherings of people which could be super-spreader events. The goal of the drive-in is for politicians to speak in front of large numbers of people during the coronavirus pandemic while maintaining social distancing.

Specifically, a drive-in rally is a planned outdoor event in which people give political speeches on a stage that is set up in front of a rows of cars. People remain in their parked cars cars and instead of applauding a statement that they like, they honk the car's horn. Videos and photographs of drive-in rallies document that -in addition to security personnel, a small number of people attending drive-in rallies stand outside their cars near the front of the stage. All of these attendee (and the security personnel) wear masks due to the coronavirus.  

The "drive-in rally" concept is modeled after "drive-in" theaters (a formally designated large outside area where people can watch a movie projected on a large screen in the comfort inside their parked car, or seated outside in lawn chairs that they provide near their parked car.) 

Democrats holding "drive-in rallies" is a complete contrast to United States Republicans who continue to hold large political rallies during Covid-19 where people stand shoulder to shoulder, with few or any people wearing masks. 

The first entry for "drive-in rallies" that is listed in YouTube is a video of Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of the Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, speaking at an Oct 5, 2020 drive-in rally in West Palm Beach, Florida (October 5, 2020). YouTube also has videos of the following drive-in rallies: Dr. Jill Biden, Oct. 19, 2020 Scranton, Pennsylvania, former President Obama speaking at drive in rally, Oct. 20, 2020 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, former President Obama, Oct. 24, 2020,  North Miami, Florida, and former Vice President Joe Biden Biden , Bristol, Pennsylvania, October 24, 2020. A number of other examples of drive-in rallies for Democratic contenders throughout the United States have been published on YouTube since October 24, 2020. 

News articles have also been published about other "drive-in" events such as this one sponsored by Souls for the Polls in Florida:
From https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/2020-election/os-ne-2020-election-souls-to-the-polls-orlando-20201024-is3ijxhkeze5djt6kpslxju65u-story.html "Souls to the Polls, #walkthevote plan ‘massive’ weekend events throughout Central Florida", by Kate Santich, Oct. 23, 2020
"Souls to the Polls", the annual voter-turnout initiative led by Black churches, is retooling in the age of COVID-19 to a drive-in “Park and Praise” event on Sunday.

The Equal Ground Education Fund, a Black-led non-partisan and nonprofit organization, is hosting events at Orlando’s Amway Arena and Sanford’s Allen Chapel AME Church. The Amway event, expected to be one of the largest in the state, will feature Pastor Derrick McRae, founder of The Experience Christian Center, radio personality and stand-up comedian Rickey Smiley, community leaders, gospel choirs, elected officials and political candidates — all while attendees remain in their own vehicles. 
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's note: This is my definition of  and comments about "drive-in rally". I wrote this because I couldn't find any definition of these political events online. Additions and corrections are welcome.

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ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE ARTICLE EXCERPT
From  https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/watch-obama-trump-florida-man-1080701/ "Watch Obama Roast Trump: ‘Florida Man Wouldn’t Do This Stuff’

“Why should we accept this from the president of the United States?” the former president asked during a Florida drive-in rally for Joe Biden

By PETER WADEOCTOBER 24, 2020 6:58PM ET
"Former President Barack Obama lit into President Trump during a drive-in rally at the Florida International University campus in support of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday.

 With hundreds of cars honking, Obama tore into Trump from the start. The former president said the current occupant in the White House has shown little interest in taking his job seriously and that he “treats the presidency like a reality show.”

[...]

Later in the speech, Obama talked about getting back to some kind of normalcy as he roasted Trump referring to him as the infamous internet meme “Florida Man.”

 “And here’s another thing, with Joe and Kamala at the helm, you won’t have to think about them every single day. There might be a whole day where they won’t be on TV. There might be a whole day where they don’t tweet some craziness. You won’t have to argue about them every day. It won’t be so exhausting just having a normal president. You’ll be able to go about your lives knowing that the president’s not going to suggest injecting bleach or we tweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world or claiming that or retweeting the claim that Navy SEALs didn’t actually kill [Osama] Bin Laden,” Obama said.

Obama continued, “We’re not going to have a president that goes out of his way to insult anybody who he doesn’t think is nice enough to him. We won’t have a president who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him.” He said, “That’s not normal behavior. Florida. You wouldn’t tolerate it from a coworker. You wouldn’t tolerate it from a high school principal. You wouldn’t tolerate it from a coach. You won’t tolerate it from a family member. Florida man wouldn’t even do this stuff.”
-snip-
The portion beginning in the third paragraph of that article starts around 29.01 in the video of that  North Miami early voting drive-in rally that is embedded in that Rolling Stones magazine article.

A longer form of that event (with a speech by a 17 year old Miami high school student) is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLISRWJ6j68&ab_channel=FloridaDemocraticParty. That video comments from people who participated in a live chat.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE "FLORIDA MAN" INTERNET MEME
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Man
"Florida Man is an Internet meme, popularized in 2013, in which the phrase "Florida Man" is taken from various unrelated news articles describing people who hail from or live in Florida. Internet users typically submit links to news stories and articles about unusual or strange crimes or events occurring in Florida, particularly those where "Florida Man" is mentioned in a headline and has been wreaking madness amongst social media. The story calls attention to Florida's supposed notoriety for strange and unusual events.[1] Miami New Times claimed that freedom of information laws in Florida make it easier for journalists to obtain information about arrests from the police than in other states and that this is responsible for the large number of news articles.[2][3] A CNN article on this meme suggests that the breadth of reports of bizarre Florida Man activities is due to a confluence of factors including public records laws giving journalists fast and easy access to police reports, the relatively high and diverse population of the state, highly variable weather, and the lack of mental health funding.

Origin

The meme was originated in February 2013 by the Twitter feed @_FloridaMan, which quoted news headlines containing the words Florida man, such as "Florida man run over by van after dog pushes accelerator" or "Police arrest Florida man for drunken joy ride on motorized scooter at Wal-Mart."[1] The feed refers to Florida Man as the "World's Worst Superhero."[1][4]"...

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