WASHINGTON ā Former President Barack Obama blasted President Donald Trumpās handling of the coronavirus, his culpability in national discord and his overall fitness for the job on Wednesday as he made his first in-person campaign pitch for his former vice president, Joe Biden.
With less than two weeks before Election Day, Obama used a drive-in campaign rally in Philadelphia to assure voters that Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, can mend a fractured country. He lauded the merits of democracy and citizenship as āhuman valuesā that the United States must again embrace.
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āAmerica is a good and decent place, but weāve just seen so much nonsense and noise that sometimes itās hard to remember,ā Obama said, after spending much of his 35-minute speech upbraiding Trump as āincapable of taking the job seriouslyā and interested only in himself.
āIām asking you to remember what this country can be,ā Obama said. āIām asking you to believe in Joeās ability and Kamalaās ability to lead this country out of these dark times and help us build it back better.ā
Obamaās visit to Philadelphia underscores the significance of Pennsylvania, the Rust Belt state that helped deliver Trump the White House four years ago. Pennsylvania is the battleground state that Biden has visited the most this campaign season. Trump has prioritized the state as well, aware that his path to victory would narrow considerably without the stateās 20 electoral votes. The president on Wednesday was in Erie, one of a handful of Pennsylvania counties that Obama won twice before it flipped to Trump.
Obama paid heed especially to disillusioned voters, including Black men and progressives wary of Biden. He urged them not to sit out the Nov. 3 election, warning that complacency from some liberal voters is what helped Trump get elected four years ago.
āWhat we do these next 13 days will matter for decades to come,ā Obama said. āThe fact that we donāt get 100% of what we want right away is not a good reason not to vote.ā
As with his Democratic National Convention speech two months ago, Obama pulled no punches on his successor. This time, though, he employed humor, sarcasm and outright incredulity befitting the trappings of a campaign rally. Tieless and with his sleeves rolled up, Obama stood on a stage facing car-bound supporters watching him on screen and rewarding his attack lines with a cacophony of honking horns.
Beneath the scorn was a defense of his own record.
āI never thought Donald Trump would embrace my vision or continue my policies, but I did hope for the sake of the country that he might show some interest in taking the job seriously,ā Obama said. Trump āwants full credit for the economy he inherited and no blame for the pandemic he ignored."
He disparaged the GOP's āshamefulā attempts to gut the 2010 Affordable Care Act while always promising a replacement. āItās been ācoming in two weeksā for the last 10 years. Where is it? Where is this great plan to replace Obamacare?ā he asked. āThere is no plan. Theyāve never had one.ā
Noting Trump's penchant for insulting āanybody who doesn't support him,ā Obama vouched for Biden's āempathy (and) decency,ā and he argued the distinction matters beyond style.
āWhy would we accept this from the president of the United States, and why are folks making excuses for that?ā Obama said. āThere are consequences to these actions. They embolden other people to be cruel and divisive and racist.ā
Four years ago, Obama delivered Hillary Clintonās closing argument in Philadelphia ā at a rally for thousands the night before Election Day on Independence Mall. With his reprisal for Biden, Obama reminded voters of 2016, when Trump upset Clinton narrowly in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to forge an Electoral College majority despite losing the popular vote nationally.
āI donāt care about the polls,ā Obama said. āThere were a whole bunch of polls last time. Didnāt work out because a whole bunch of folks stayed at home and got lazy and complacent. Not this time. Not this election.ā
The roundtable was a personalized version of the same message, with the nation's first Black president urging Black men not to give into apathy. The host city, Philadelphia, is among the Democratic bastions in key battleground states where Black turnout four years ago fell off from Obama's 2012 reelection in large enough numbers to tip the election in Trump's favor.
Obama said he understood young voters' skepticism and disinterest. āIāll confess, when I was 20 years old, I wasnāt all that woke,ā he said, adding that young Black men are ānot involved because theyāre young and theyāre distracted.ā
But he said not voting gives away power because politicians respond to and reflect the citizens who cast votes.
āOne of the biggest tricks thatās perpetrated on the American people is this idea that the government is separate from you,ā Obama said. āThe governmentās us. Of, by and for the people. It wasnāt always for all of us, but the way itās designed, it works based on whoās at the table.ā
Despite the smaller scale, Democrats say Obama remains perhaps the party's greatest campaign asset, including for Biden, given their personal ties.
Obama already had hosted virtual events geared to younger voters and lent his name to texts and emails encouraging supporters to register to vote and donate money to the campaign. He has also been a big money draw for the campaign. One virtual fundraiser he headlined with Biden in June brought in $7.6 million, and he's raised money and appeared in ads for down-ballot Democrats.
He is also planning to campaign for Biden in Miami on Saturday.
Obama said the future of the country is at stake.
āWeāve got to vote like never before,ā he said in Philadelphia, āand leave no doubt.ā
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Barrow reported from Atlanta.
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APās Advance Voting guide brings you the facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020/