Trump, Obama tout clashing visions of U.S. as elections near

[webfact]

Trump, Obama tout clashing visions of U.S. as elections near

By John Whitesides

 

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Barack Obama walks onstage as he campaigned for Democrats including U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum in Miami, Florida, U.S. November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Barack Obama made duelling election appearances on Sunday, offering sharply different views on the country's problems but agreeing on the high stakes for voters in the final 48 hours of a tight campaign.

 

With opinion polls showing dozens of tight U.S. congressional and gubernatorial races in Tuesday's election, the current and former presidents said the results would determine what kind of country Americans live in for the next two years.

 

"This election will decide whether we build on this extraordinary prosperity we have created," Trump told a cheering crowd in Macon, Georgia, warning that Democrats would "take a giant wrecking ball to our economy."

 

Trump campaigned with Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is in a tight race with Democrat Stacey Abrams for the governor's office.

 

Obama condemned Trump, without addressing him by name, and Republicans for what he described as their divisive policies and repeated lies. He hammered Trump and Republicans for repeatedly trying to repeal his signature healthcare law while at the same time claiming to support the law's protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

 

"The only check right now on the behaviour of these Republicans is you and your vote," Obama told supporters in Gary, Indiana, during a rally for endangered Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly.

 

"The character of our country is on the ballot," he said.

 

Trump and Obama are the most popular figures in their parties, and their appearances on the campaign trail are designed to stoke enthusiasm among core supporters in the late stages of a midterm congressional election widely seen as a referendum on Trump's first two years in the White House.

 

Opinion polls and election forecasters have made Democrats favourites on Tuesday to pick up the 23 seats they need to capture a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would enable them to stymie Trump's legislative agenda and investigate his administration.

 

Republicans are favoured to retain their slight majority in the U.S. Senate, currently at two seats, which would let them retain the power to approve U.S. Supreme Court and other judicial nominations on straight party-line votes.

 

In the midst of a six-day national blitz of rallies ahead of Tuesday's election, Trump will also appear later on Sunday in Tennessee, which hosts a vital U.S. Senate race.

 

HARD-LINE RHETORIC

In the final stages of the campaign, Trump has ramped up his hard-line rhetoric on immigration and cultural issues including warnings about a caravan of migrants headed to the border with Mexico and of liberal "mobs."

 

He repeated those themes in Georgia, urging voters to "look at what is marching up - that's an invasion." He said Democrats encouraged chaos at the borders because it was good politics.

 

Ronna McDaniel, head of the Republican National Committee, said on ABC's "This Week" program that the media had chosen to focus on Trump's immigration rhetoric but the president was also emphasizing economic and job gains under his presidency.

 

The Labor Department on Friday reported sharply better-than-expected job creation in October, with the unemployment rate steady at a 49-year low of 3.7 percent and wages notching their best annual gain in almost a decade.

 

But in Indiana, Obama said Republicans were taking credit for the economic renewal that started under his presidency. "You hear those Republicans brag about how good the economy is, where do you think that started?" he asked.

 

Obama also appeared later on Sunday in his old home state of Illinois, which hosts a competitive governor's race and several tight U.S. House of Representative races. Obama's appearance on the campaign trail is his second in three days.

 

In the battle for the Senate, Democrats are defending seats in 10 states that Trump won in the 2016 presidential election, including a handful that he won by double digits.

 

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who heads the Democratic Senate campaign arm, said it was "remarkable" that Democrats were even in striking distance of capturing the Senate given the unfavourable map they faced.

 

"The fact we still have a narrow path to a majority is a sea change from where we were two years ago," he said on ABC. "These are some very close races and they are in states where Trump won big."

 

As of Sunday morning, almost 34.4 million people had cast ballots early, according to the Election Project at the University of Florida, which tracks turnout. That is up 67.8 percent from the 20.5 million early votes cast in all of 2014, the last federal election when the White House was not at stake.

 

For all Reuters election coverage, click: https://www.reuters.com/politics/election2018

 

Graphic: A look at battleground states: https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION-TOSSUP-SEATS/010080SV1K9/index.html

 

Graphic: Can Democrats regain control of the House? https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION-BLUEWAVE/010080J912P/index.htmlGraphic: All election coverage - https://www.reuters.com/politics/election2018

 

(Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Susan Thomas)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-05

[pegman]

Obama is a class act. The other guy not so much.

[lannarebirth]

Given the political divide in America, everyone has an opinion about how wrong the other side is, and they're right. Never imagining that their side is also wrong. It's a manufactured divide IMO; paid for by monied interests that fuel the division in exchange for a quantifiable voting block that will give them access to the US treasury.

Edited November 5, 2018 by lannarebirth

[Becker]

And the mouthpiece of one side is apparently not interested in having the BS they sprout rebuked:

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/04/media/george-soros-patrick-gaspard-fox-news/index.html

 

[ballpoint]

1 hour ago, pegman said:

Obama is a class act. The other guy not so much.

Class act vs crass act.

[Berkshire]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

Obama is a class act. The other guy not so much.

Obama is a class act.  As for Trump....I think Gregg Popovich said it best.

 

["(Trump) is a "soulless coward" and a “pathological liar… unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office.”]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/popovich-endorses-beto-orourke-751763/

 

[sirineou]

4 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

Given the political divide in America, everyone has an opinion about how wrong the other side is, and they're right. Never imagining that their side is also wrong. It's a manufactured divide IMO; paid for by monied interests that fuel the division in exchange for a quantifiable voting block that will give them access to the US treasury.

 Trump did say that he would bring manufacturing back !!!

[rudi49jr]

6 hours ago, pegman said:

Obama is a class act. The other guy not so much.

'The other guy not so much.'

 

I think you're being very generous there.

[Boon Mee]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

 Trump did say that he would bring manufacturing back !!!

Along with lowest unemployment rates ever for Blacks. 

[sirineou]

Just now, Boon Mee said:

Along with lowest unemployment rates ever for Blacks. 

wow blacks too?

[Redline]

6 hours ago, Becker said:

And the mouthpiece of one side is apparently not interested in having the BS they sprout rebuked:

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/04/media/george-soros-patrick-gaspard-fox-news/index.html

 

I was the republicans that wanted unlimited funding in politics, so suck it up ???? I guess they thought all the rich would follow them~well, cry me a river, and let's get massive money out of the equation 

[Redline]

3 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Along with lowest unemployment rates ever for Blacks. 

Let's see what the "Blacks" say about that ????  Why did you capitalize blacks?  Did you grow up in South Africa?

[Redline]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

 Trump did say that he would bring manufacturing back !!!

I believe him, even though he's up to 30 lies per day ????

[klauskunkel]

7 hours ago, pegman said:

Obama is a class act. The other guy not so much.

Obama is a class act. The other one is orange.

[dunroaming]

The American economy is doing well, very well!  You would think that Trump would use that as his rallying call for the Primaries.  Instead he focusses on sending troops to the border, "beautiful barbed wire" and his stupid wall.

 

Clearly this is what he believes will appeal to his core supporters and of course it will.  Just how successful this line is will be interesting to see.  Time for the USA voters to show their true colours (colors).

[Emster23]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Along with lowest unemployment rates ever for Blacks. 

 I think unemployment rates were lower under slavery. Maybe Trump and Kanye can team up to reinstate that and give blacks full employment! ????

[Juan B Tong]

Obama, just a stain on the White House walls.

[Thingamabob]

Obama appears to be seriously demented these days. Seems to be operating on a very short fuse.

[Srinivas]

32 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

Obama appears to be seriously demented these days. Seems to be operating on a very short fuse.

he knows his days are numberedd. fisa declass coming up after midterms.

 

[guest879]

2 hours ago, Redline said:

Let's see what the "Blacks" say about that ????  Why did you capitalize blacks?  Did you grow up in South Africa?

affirmative action and reparation's. I can see why trump is so unpopular with the blacks what with so many of them working again.

[guest879]

2 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

Obama is a class act. The other one is orange.

#ORANGEMANBAD economy good but #ORANGEMANBAD immigrant wave good but #ORANGEMANBAD. I am Russian. You are NPC.

Edited November 5, 2018 by guest879

[Becker]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

Obama appears to be seriously demented these days. Seems to be operating on a very short fuse.

Obama????

[candide]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

Obama appears to be seriously demented these days. Seems to be operating on a very short fuse.

Well, Trump has been blowing them regularly for some time...

 

Captain Kirk: "I see a strange orange magma splashing out"

Spock: "Don't worry, he it's just a fuse blowing out"

[Skeptic7]

For some perspective and a reality check...

 

Historians rank Barack Obama as the 12th best POTUS...EVER.

 

It's expected that in future surveys, he will be in the Top 10. 

[Nyezhov]

5 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

For some perspective and a reality check...

 

Historians rank Barack Obama as the 12th best POTUS...EVER.

 

It's expected that in future surveys, he will be in the Top 10. 

Got a cite for that?

[Skeptic7]

2 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Got a cite for that?

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-20-presidents-in-us-history-according-to-historians-2017-2

 

and a quote...

 

While some historians weren't shocked that Obama didn't rank higher overall on the list — "That Obama came in at No. 12 his first time out is quite impressive," Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said — others were surprised by his lower-than-expected leadership rankings, including No. 7 in moral authority and No. 8 in economic management.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Skeptic7

[Nyezhov]

5 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-20-presidents-in-us-history-according-to-historians-2017-2

 

and a quote...

 

While some historians weren't shocked that Obama didn't rank higher overall on the list — "That Obama came in at No. 12 his first time out is quite impressive," Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said — others were surprised by his lower-than-expected leadership rankings, including No. 7 in moral authority and No. 8 in economic management.

did they consider Obamas arm around Louis Farrakan, who called Jews "termites" and who is presently in Iran to support the Iranians against the great Satan?

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Farrakhan-compares-Trump-to-Satan-during-visit-to-Iran-571079

 

I consider to be President Obama to be a failure with no/minimal accomplishments whatsoever, and man who associates with terrorists and antisemites.  To me, he lacks credibility to attack Presidnt Trump in any fashion.

[Srinivas]

2 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Got a cite for that?

well he did get that nobel peace prize , decided just a few months into his first year for some speechs the Norwegian sjws liked.

[Nyezhov]

Just now, Srinivas said:

well he did get that nobel peace prize , decided just a few months into his first year for some speechs the Norwegian sjws liked.

All the silly birther crap aside, Obama has always gotten a pass from the media.  He set race relations back years, weaponized the government against Americans to an extent never before seen in American history, hindered the economy and is responsible for the sooner or later destruction of the once proud Democratic party, which in my day stood for freedom and liberal thought. He would be better off keeping quiet like all other Ex Presidents and counting his $$$ that he has made off of nothing.

[alocacoc]

Obama is in panic mode. He's desperate and not very well. If the democrats should win the house, Trump might the result not accept and let the Supreme Court decide. There was huge election meddling by the Democrats, media and social networks. It's better for everyone when the Republicans just win. Otherwise it's getting very serious.

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