Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday to deliver a scathing condemnation of his successor while envisioning an America ruled by former vice president Joe Biden.
Sleeves rolled up and wearing a black mask that read VOTE, Obama assaulted Donald Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 Americans and infected millions more, including the president.
“Eight months after the start of this pandemic, cases are on the rise again across the country,” Obama said during a drive-through rally in Philadelphia less than two weeks before election day. “Donald Trump is not suddenly going to protect us all. He can’t even take the basic steps to protect himself.Declaring this “the most important election of our lives,” Obama stressed the importance of the vote and urged Americans to develop a plan to vote. “What we do now for the next 13 days will matter for decades to come,” he said.
Obama, who came to the White House with an optimistic message of “hope and change,” acknowledged that progress is not always a straight line. “The fact that we don’t get 100% of what we want right away is not a good reason not to vote,” he pleaded.
His visit to Pennsylvania, one of the three traditionally democratic Rust Belt states that Trump won in 2016, underscored his importance in this cycle. The two candidates lavished frequent visits and an advertising campaign on the state. Biden holds a narrow lead in Pennsylvania, according to a RealClearPolitics average of state polls.
Seizing a comment Trump made at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, when he told his supporters it wouldn’t have been if his campaign hadn’t lagged behind, Obama smirked, “Poor guy. I don’t feel that way. I love coming to Pennsylvania. ”
Ignoring polls and experts that have shown Biden widening his lead in recent weeks, Obama has urged black men and young progressives not to stay out of this cycle.
“I don’t care about the polls. There was a whole series of polls last time around, ”he said. “It didn’t work because a whole bunch of people stayed at home. “
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