Obama to ream Trump, laud Biden in convention speech

Former President Obama will offer a scathing rebuke of President Trump’s time in office during his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, echoing a sentiment many other Democrats have voiced at their convention this week.

Obama, who has retained high popularity since leaving office in January 2017, is slated to say in prepared remarks that while he never believed Trump, a Republican, would advocate for his policies, he had hoped “for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously.”

This didn’t happen, though, Obama will say.

“He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves,” Obama is expected to say, according to excerpts released ahead of his speech.

The former Democratic president cites the coronavirus pandemic and goes after the Trump administration’s handling of the disease, which has spread across the country.

“170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before,” Obama states.

He acknowledges the political polarization of the country, but affirms that he thinks Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee and his former vice president, can “make us a better country.” Obama urges all Americans to turn up at the polls in November.

“No single American can fix this country alone. Democracy was never meant to be transactional — you give me your vote; I make everything better,” Obama says. “So I am also asking you to believe in your own ability — to embrace your own responsibility as citizens – to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure.”

The idea of unity has been a centering point all week for Democrats, as well as using empirical points to blast Trump.

“I know that regardless of our race, age, religion or politics, when we close out the noise and the fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what’s going on in this country is just not right. This is not who we want to be,” former first lady Michelle Obama said in her convention speech Monday night.

Also slated to speak Wednesday night for the virtual convention is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee, as well as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Biden’s running mate, will also star Wednesday, as she officially accepts the vice presidential nomination, becoming the first Black woman and first Asian American to be on the ticket of a major political party.