Obama zings 'birtherism' antics he faced as president while stumping for Wisconsin Democratic Senate nominee Mandela Barnes: 'Get ready to dig up that birth certificate'

• Former President Obama mocked GOP "birtherism" while boosting Mandela Barnes' Wisconsin Senate bid.
• During a Friday rally, Obama mocked Republican campaign attempts to paint Barnes as "different."

Former President Barack Obama on Saturday poked at the "birther" attacks he faced throughout his eight years in the White House as he campaigned for Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin's high-stakes Senate race.

Obama — whose United States citizenship was repeatedly questioned by a slew of conservatives during the 2008 presidential campaign and as he ran for reelection in 2012 — during a Milwaukee rally criticized television advertisements against Barnes that called the candidate "a dangerous Democrat."

"I know that there are some folks, probably maybe not in this auditorium, but elsewhere in Wisconsin who think just ... because Mandela's named Mandela, just because he's a Democrat with a funny name, he must not be like you, he must not share your values," Obama said. "I mean, we've seen this. It sounds pretty familiar doesn't it?"

"So Mandela, get ready to pick up that birth certificate. Get ready," he mockingly added.

Barnes is seeking to oust two-term Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who was first elected in the conservative "Tea Party" wave in the first midterm election of Obama's presidency, where the GOP won back control of the House and erased a sizable Democratic edge in the Senate.

If elected, Barnes would be the first Black United States senator to represent Wisconsin.

Before the 2012 presidential election, former President Donald Trump began floating the idea that Obama was not an American citizen, an issue he used to catapult himself into national Republican politics, later winning the 2016 presidential nomination and then the general election.

While speaking at the Democratic get-out-the-vote rally, Obama opined that the attacks against his citizenship don't compare to the raft of political conspiracy theories that have been espoused by Trump and some conservatives in recent years.

"That's the good old days. Remember when that was the craziest thing that people said?" Obama asked the crowd. "Think about that. That wasn't that long ago. Everybody's going like, 'Wow that's some crazy stuff.' Now, it doesn't even make the top 10 list of crazy."

Johnson is currently averaging a 3.4% lead over Barnes on FiveThirtyEight using data from the most recent polls.

Wisconsin is well-known for its razor-thin electoral contests; Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election by less than one percent, and President Joe Biden edged out Trump in the state in 2020 by a similar margin.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is up for reelection this fall against Republican businessman Tim Michels, defeated two-term GOP Gov. Scott Walker by 1.1 points four years ago.

However, Obama easily won the state in both 2008 and 2012.