PHILADELPHIA — President Obama called Democrats to action Wednesday in a fiery speech on behalf of his former rival and first secretary of state, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Obama made the case for Clinton as a commander in chief to lead the U.S. at a tumultuous time of terror threats at home and abroad, and a competent governor who can bring Americans together to solve problems and get things done.
Obama presented Republican nominee Donald Trump as a stark danger to the country — a politician outside the political norm — who can’t be trusted to keep Americans safe or wield the power of the world’s most powerful military.
It was vintage Obama — an effective campaign orator, inspiring and revered on the Left as he is dismissed and reviled on the Right.
For more than 40 minutes, he commanded the raucous, packed arena, testifying to his achievements over two terms and why Democrats should trust Clinton to continue his legacy and complete the job he started but wouldn’t have time to finish.
“No matter how much people try to knock her down, she never quits. That’s the Hillary I know. That’s why there’s never been a man or woman, not me, not Bill, nobody, more qualified to serve as president of the United States,” Obama said. “And then, there’s Donald Trump. The Donald is not really a plans guy; he’s not really a facts guy either.”
Just how important is Obama to Clinton’s prospects this fall? The president was the keynote speaker, addressing the convention last, after Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia formally accepted the nomination for vice president.
Clinton this week has fought to unify the party she is inheriting from Obama.
The former first lady and senator from New York has is wrangling a fractious bunch, comprise of center-left mainstream Democrats that might identify with her husband, President Bill Clinton, and the rising progressives motivated by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Since defeating Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008, Obama has been the glue holding all wings of the Democratic Party together. In a close race with Trump, Clinton needs Obama’s coalition, and his vouching for her could be her single greatest asset in the campaign, especially if he can maintain his 50 percent approval rating.
“Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the way you carried me,” Obama said. “You’ve got to get in the arena with her, because democracy isn’t a spectator sport. America isn’t about “yes he will.” It’s about “yes we can.” And we’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.”
In a replay of four years ago, when Bill Clinton delivered a stirring speech on Obama’s behalf at the Charlotte convention that nominated him for re-election and was then joined on stage for a high-five from the president, Hillary Clinton emerged from backstage upon the conclusion of the Obama’s address in Philadelphia for an embrace and an arm-and-arm walk across the stage. The crowd loved it.
“He’s been s superb president and I know that Hillary will be as good if not better,” said Jillian McNerny of California, who watched Obama speak from the convention floor. “I’d like to see him use his ability to bring people together like he did for people in his own campaign. He’s an amazing campaigner, he’s an inspiration, if he could rally that force that got him elected for Hillary that’d be amazing.”
“He’s one of the best presidents I ever voted for,” added Glenda Ritz, a delegate from Indiana. “We’re all in this together. He knows Hillary, so I trust what he says.”
For Obama, Wednesday evening was about more than vouching for Clinton.
His speech was something of a valedictory moment, as he recalled his first address to a Democratic convention, 12 years ago to the day in Boston. That speech launched his toward the presidency, and Obama reprised themes central to his political rise, hope and faith in the promise of America, to draw a contrast with the broken down, crime infested, weakend country described by Trump.
Yes, Obama sought to undermine Trump’s credentials as a successful businessman.
But more than that, and somewhat remarkably, an often aggressively partisan president who has attempted to delegitimize Republicans as uniformed and borderline evil lamented that the scene in Cleveland, where Trump was nominated, was unrecognizable from the GOP he fondly remembered.
Obama, who has worked as hard as any Democrat to turn the country left away from legacy left by President Ronald Reagan, employed the rhetoric of the iconic Republican to cast Trump as politician outside the acceptable American mainstream.
“What we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican – and it sure wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems – just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate,” 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,” he added.
Trump emerged from his convention with a bounce in the polls, courtesy of wavering Republican voters who had been withholding support but liked enough of what they saw to propel the New York real estate mogul into a small lead over Clinton in the polling averages.
That could also be due to voters reconsidering support for Clinton in the wake of FBI Director James Comey’s assertion that her use of a private email server while secretary of state was careless and borderline criminal, although he recommended against an indictment.
Clinton is now under extra to unify the Democratic base as she hits the campaign trail after formally accepting the presidential nomination here on Thursday. Party insiders fear that she might have some trouble coalescing Sanders supporters, if for no other reason than they might not take seriously enough the fact that Trump could win.
Some of that lingering intraparty strife was on evident Wednesday evening. Sanders supporters stood during silently during Obama’s speech with signs that expressed opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership, a multi-country trade deal that Obama negotiated but has since stalled in Congress.
Lori Vrochapoulos, a Sanders delegate from Florida, described Clinton as the obvious choice over Trump, and said that nominee would get her vote. But she remains suspicous of Clinton, who previously supported TPP before bowing to pressure from the Left and reversing course.
“I mean he sounds positive but there are some things that obviously need to go away, no TPP specifically. There are a lot of issues still out on the table that need fixing. I just believe in Bernie’s platform and there’s a lot we are still fighting for to make it more progressive,” Vrochapoulos said.
Ariel Cohen contributed to this report.
