Gray hair, shirt without jacket, sporty appearance, sharp and rhythmic words: Barack Obama, equal to himself, entered the campaign on Thursday October 10 in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The gym was packed and enthusiastic. Contrary to expectations, Kamala Harris was not there. She was campaigning that same afternoon in Las Vegas (Nevada), then in Phoenix (Arizona). But the political lineage between these two democratic figures was claimed. « Yes she can »said the gymnasium screen, in an optimistic echo of Barack Obama’s conquest of power in 2008.
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Twenty-eight days before the election, while early voting has already started in Pennsylvania as in other states, the former president estimated that Kamala Harris was “more ready for the job than any presidential candidate has ever been.” Barack Obama above all relentlessly attacked his successor in the White House. “Donald Trump wants us to believe our country is hopelessly divided between us and them, between ‘real Americans’ who support him and outsiders who don’t. Because he thinks keeping people divided and angry increases his chances of getting elected. (…) We don’t need four more years of arrogance and nonsense and boasting and division. America is ready to turn the page. We’re ready for a better story. »
Barack Obama did not really calibrate his intervention for the local public, even though the two campaign teams are doing it hand-sewn, almost street by street, in this highly contested state. He focused his speech on the values at stake in the election, mocking Donald Trump, portrayed as exclusively concerned with his own interest, a fan of endless speeches. “It’s like Fidel Castro, it goes on and on, constant attempts to sell you stuff. Who does this? He sells you gold sneakers and $100,000 watches and, most recently, a Trump Bible. He wants you to buy the word of God from Trump Publishing!he laughed. He has his name up there alongside Matthew and Luke. »
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Satisfaction
The public, made up of convinced people, purred with satisfaction at this evocation, which will undoubtedly not move a single voice. Barack Obama also recognized the impact of inflation on low-income households and the shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “There was a feeling that the aspirations of workers were being relegated to second place compared to the rich and powerful”he noted, emphasizing the tax cuts promised by Donald Trump to the wealthiest. But the main part of what he said was about the contrast between personalities and their righteousness.
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