In what is likely to be his last major primetime speech as President of the United States, Barack Obama delivered a rousing endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America,” Obama said, as the crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Obama them acknowledged a visibly pleased Bill Clinton, “I hope you don’t mind, Bill, but I was just telling the truth, man.”
The near 50-minute speech, which highlighted Hillary Clinton’s strengths for being the next occupant of the Oval Office, also addressed Donald Trump’s candidacy and his electoral promises.
“You know, the Donald is not really a plans guy. He's not really a facts guy, either. He calls himself a business guy, which is true, but I have to say, I know plenty of businessmen and women who've achieved remarkable success without leaving a trail of lawsuits and unpaid workers and people feeling like they got cheated.”
“Does anyone really believe that a guy who's spent his 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice?...”
Calling attention to Donald Trump’s fear-mongering, Obama said, “Ronald Reagan called America ‘a shining city on a hill’, Donald Trump calls it ‘a divided crime scene’ that only he can fix. It doesn’t matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they’ve been in decades, because he’s not offering any real solutions to those issues. He’s just offering slogans, and he’s offering fear. He’s betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election.”
Asking the American people to pass the “baton” of hope on to Hillary Clinton, he concluded, “Time and again, you’ve picked me up. I hope, sometimes, I picked you up, too. Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. Because you’re who I was talking about 12 years ago, when I talked about hope – it’s been you who’ve fuelled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds are great; even when the road is long. Hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; the audacity of hope!”
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