Former President Barack Obama spoke out over the weekend to slam Republicans, claiming that they are “systematically” trying to stop Americans from voting. He said this in a speech campaigning for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.

“All across the country, Democrats are trying to make it easier to vote, not make it harder to vote, and push back on Republicans who are trying to systematically prevent ordinary citizens from making their voices heard,” Obama said, according to Fox News. “You have to ask yourself, why is it Republicans don’t want you to vote?”

McAuliffe’s Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin, who he is in a tight race with, fired back at Obama by claiming that the former president’s claim that Republicans work to prevent people from voting, calling them “false statements.”

“Glenn has addressed this multiple times before Obama came to Virginia to bail Terry out, but instead of writing a story about the former President’s false statements, the press is indulging Terry’s fantasies and lies because he can’t run on his failed record and radical vision for the future,” Youngkin said.

In this same speech, Obama claimed, “We don’t have time to be wasting on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage that right-wing media peddles to juice their ratings.” He then accused Youngkin of avoiding “serious problems that affect serious people” and suggested that outrage over the actions of school boards is unjustified.

“Instead of stoking anger aimed at school boards and administrators, who are just trying to keep our kids safe… we should be making it easier for teachers and schools to give our kids the world-class education they deserve, and to do so safely while they are in the classroom,” Obama continued.

Former President @BarackObama: "We don't have time to be wasted on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage, the right-wing media's pedals to juice their ratings." pic.twitter.com/bmMnet8q5X

— The Hill (@thehill) October 23, 2021

Parents have since fired back at Obama by making it clear that his comments don’t sit well with them.

“That is the most tone-deaf statement I have ever heard,” Brandon Michon, a frustrated father of three in Loudoun County, Virginia, told Fox News. “First and foremost, everything that has come up with the cover-up in Loudoun County has to do with a sexual assault on girls. To say that this is trumped-up as a political thing is laughable.”

“Any parent, regardless of our political views – Republican, Democrat, Independent – wants our kids to go to school and be safe,” Michon added. “People are upset because Loudoun County covered up that they knew about sexual assaults and the question is, what else do we not know about?”

“It doesn’t feel like it’s culture war or fake outrage,” he added.

“Obama is clearly clueless or intentionally misleading the crowd,” added Laura Zorc, director of education reform at Building Education for Students Together (BEST), an organization that trains parents to engage with school boards.