During a campaign speech at a rally in Philadelphia, President Obama said, “I’m going to work as hard as I can this fall to elect Hillary Clinton as our next president of the United States of America.” His remarks prompted a reaction on Twitter, with users wondering whether he was campaigning for a third term or rather thinking about golf.
Obama avoided mentioning Clinton’s health: The candidate took time off from her campaign after being diagnosed with pneumonia which she revealed after collapsing during a 9/11 service.
“Hillary Clinton is steady and she is true,” Obama told an audience of roughly 6,000 Democratic supporters. “I need you to work as hard for Hillary as you did for me.”
Instead he used his speech to focus on Trump as “not fit in any way shape or form to represent this country and be its commander in chief,” and said that Clinton, unlike Trump, has providing health and financial records while Trump had refused to release his.
President Obama sometimes uses his stump speeches to go after the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, arguing the real estate mogul offered America nothing more than a dark, pessimistic vision.
“In election season you will often hear crazy stuff. But I got to say this year we’ve been hearing a little more crazy than usual,” said Obama, as the crowd chanted “Hillary.”
“What we have seen from the other side in this election, this isn’t Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party. This isn’t even the vision of freedom that Ronald Reagan talked about.They’re not offering serious solutions. They’re just fanning resentment and blame and anger and hate. And that is not the America we know. That’s not the American I know,” he said, according to MSNBC. “He’s betting if he scares enough people, he might just scare up enough votes to win this election.”
Obama was critical of the support working-class Americans have shown for Trump and told Democrat supporters at the rally that GOP nominee “wouldn’t let you all on his golf course. And now suddenly this guy is going to be your champion.”
About the GOP nominee Obama said he had fashioned himself as a working-class hero but after “70 years on this earth showing no concern for working people.”
He accused Trump of being unprepared, unserious and “not a facts guy,” and seized on Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and giving interview to Larry King that aired on RT America.
“Just last week, [Trump] went on Russian state television to talk down our military and curry favor with Vladimir Putin. He loves this guy,” Obama told the crowd in Philadelphia.
“Think about what’s happening to the Republican party,” he continued. “They used to be opposed to Russian and authoritarianism…And now their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he is a strong leader because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press and rives his economy into a long recession.”
“Can you image Ronald Reagan idolizing somebody like that?” said Obama.
READ MORE: Obama slams Trump's appearance on RT, compares Putin to Saddam Hussein
The interview Obama was referring to did broadcast on RT America was a syndicated program Politicking with Larry King and it included very little about Putin.
In in the interview, King asked Trump about Putin’s assertion that the hack of the DNC committee was a “public service,” and claimed the Russian government was not involved.
“I don’t have any opinion on it. I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know who hacked. I’m not sure. You tell me. Who hacked? Who did the hacking?” Trump said.
Obama currently has a 58 percent job approval rating, and is seen by the Clinton campaign as crucial for his ability to reach Latinos and millennials. The two groups represent weaknesses for the Clinton campaign who has been unable to galvanize their support as Sanders did with the millennials.
A recent survey from Quinnipiac found Clinton leading Trump by just five points in the battleground state. The GOP nominee sees the state as crucial to his victory. Trump will campaign later on Tuesday in the state.