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PHILADELPHIA (REUTERS, AFP) – Former US President Barack Obama returned to the election campaign on Wednesday (October 21) and launched a searing attack on Donald Trump, less than two weeks into the election day showdown. of the republican president. with Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
At a rally in Philadelphia on behalf of Biden, his former vice president, Obama offered his fiercest criticism of his successor, pointing to Trump’s divisive rhetoric and his record in the Oval Office.
“He has not shown any interest in doing the job or helping anyone but himself,” Obama said of Trump.
Obama, who ruled for two terms and remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, criticized Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, noting that the president himself had been a victim of the virus.
“Donald Trump is not going to suddenly protect us all,” he said. “You can’t even take the basic steps to protect yourself.”
He said Trump had proven “incapable of taking work seriously.”
This is not a reality show. This is the reality, ”Obama said.
“And the rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him showing that he is incapable of taking work seriously.”
Urging voters not to be complacent, he warned of errors in opinion polls before Trump’s shocking victory in 2016.
“We cannot be complacent. I don’t care about polls, “Obama said. “There were a lot of polls last time. It didn’t work. Because a lot of people stayed home. And he became lazy and complacent. Not this time. Not in this election. “
Obama’s appearance filled a void left by Biden, who has been staying at his home in Delaware since Monday for meetings and preparations ahead of his Thursday debate with Trump in Nashville, Tennessee.
The drive-in was held in the parking lot of Citizens Bank Park, the ballpark in Philadelphia, with the city skyline visible in the distance.
It was the largest event of its kind that Biden’s campaign has organized amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The nearly 280 vehicles were distributed throughout the lot, with giant screens placed so that attendees could see the former president.
With a recent Reuters / Ipsos poll showing Biden just four percentage points ahead in Pennsylvania, Obama warned Democrats against complacency.
“We have to go out like never before,” he said. “We cannot leave any doubt in this election.”
Four years ago, Obama participated in a rally in Philadelphia with then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton the day before the election, only to see Trump narrowly take over the state. Biden’s campaign sees winning there as a top priority.
Speaking at an evening rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, Trump briefly mentioned Obama and noted that he had supported Clinton in her failed effort.
“Nobody campaigned harder for Crooked Hillary than Obama, right?” he said.
North Carolina is another battleground state where opinion polls show a close race. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, was also in the state Wednesday to mobilize voters in Asheville and Charlotte.
Obama won North Carolina in 2008, but lost it in his 2012 campaign. Trump won it in 2016.
Trump argued that coronavirus-related restrictions were hurting the state’s economy and complained that Democrats and the media were too concerned about the pandemic.
“All you hear is Covid, Covid,” the president said. “That’s all they wear because they want to scare everyone.”
Earlier in the day, Obama, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest stars and a frequent target of Trump’s attacks, joined a roundtable with black Philadelphia politicians and community and religious leaders.
“It’s good to see you,” Obama said, entering to applause from the 15 guests.
“I have never lost hope in these last four years,” he said. “I have gotten angry. I’ve been frustrated, but I haven’t lost hope, and the reason is that I never expected progress to move directly in a straight line.
The panel discussion followed with a stop at a local counting site.
Americans are voting early at a record pace this year, with more than 41 million ballots cast by mail and in person before Election Day on November 3, on concerns about the coronavirus and to make sure their votes are counted. votes.
The final days of the campaign come amid a spike in new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in battle states, including North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but also Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.
Pennsylvania has averaged 1,500 new cases a day over the past week, a level it hasn’t seen since April, according to a Reuters analysis. North Carolina has averaged 2,000 new cases per day for the past week, its highest level to date.
Polls show that the majority of voters are disappointed with the way Trump has handled the pandemic, which he has repeatedly said would go away on its own.
In a call organized by the Biden campaign and Texas Democrats on Wednesday, several Texas Republicans urged their fellow Conservatives to vote for Biden, citing the coronavirus crisis and Biden’s character.
“This is not a decision I made lightly. I love the Republican Party and I love most of the Republican Party officials. But I love my country more,” said Jacob Monty, a Republican immigration attorney who resigned from the advisory council. Trump’s Hispanic National in 2016..
Pennsylvania in the spotlight
Biden and Trump are scheduled to meet for their second and final debate Thursday night, giving the Republican a chance to turn the tide of a career that Biden is leading in national polls.
Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, warned staff and supporters that she sees a much closer race in the 17 states the campaign sees as battlegrounds than national polls suggest that show it has a wide lead. .
Biden believes he must win his home state of Pennsylvania, which Democrats narrowly lost to Trump in 2016, and has visited more than any other state during the campaign.
Trump has gained ground in Pennsylvania, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released Monday, which showed the challenger leading between 49% and 45%, slightly narrower than a week earlier.
“If we win Pennsylvania, we win everything,” Trump said Tuesday at a rally in Erie, in the northwest corner of the state.
The early voting record so far represents about 30 percent of the total votes cast in 2016, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project.
Opinion polls and voting results indicate that many of those early voters generally do not participate in elections, but are coming off the bench this year to endorse Biden, or vote against Trump.
Trump, who has resumed a packed schedule of demonstrations since recovering from his recent fight with Covid-19, will appear Wednesday night at a rally at the Gastonia, North Carolina airport.
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