In Orlando, Obama hits at Trump ‘incompetence’
Former President Barack Obama lashed out at President Trump on Tuesday during a campaign stop in Orlando as he urged state voters to turn out “like never before” to put Joe Biden in the WhiteHouse.
“One week, Orlando,” Obama told rallygoers outside Camping World Stadium. “Oneweek. Si, se puede [Yes, we can].”
The drive-in rally, held outside Camping World Stadium in the park that was once Tinker Field, drew supporters in 273 cars, the campaign said. Drivers honked their horns and cheered in approval as Obama spoke. The audience was invitation-only, as the Biden campaign sought to limit crowd size and maintain social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Outside, a group of
Trump supporters waved a dozen or so flags and banged on drums from the other side of the fence along the street, but they mostly couldn’t be heard among the speakers and car horns.
Obama harshly criticized his successor inoffice, saying that although he never expected Trump to “embrace my views and policies, I hoped for the country’ s sake he’d show some interest in taking the job seriously. But he didn’t.”
The former president focused on Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including his efforts to downplay it at recent campaign rallies even as cases surge nationwide and the nation has reached more than 225,000 deaths.
“What’s his closing argument?” Obama asked. “[That] people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies, ‘COVID, COVID, COVID.’ He’s jealous of COVID’s media coverage.”
Obama said instead of focusing on controlling its spread, Trump has “turned the White House into a hot zone,” with dozens of people connected to the White House, including Trump, testing positive earlier this month. Asecond outbreak among Vice President Mike Pence’s staff occurred lastweek.
He also quoted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows saying over the weekend, “We are not going to control the pandemic” and added a reference to Gameof Thrones.
“Winter is coming,” Obama said. “And they’re waving the white flag of surrender.”
Obama said if Biden and vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris take office, “You’re not going to have to think about it every single day. About what crazy things they’re going to say. ... The president’s not going to retweet conspiracy theories about crazy cabals running theworld.”
Obama urged all Floridians to vote for Biden, and
if they’ve already voted, to help friends and family get to the polls.
“Florida, we cannot afford four more years of this,” Obama said. “We cannot afford this kind of incompetence and indifference.”
The former president later made a five-minute stop at a campaign office on Oak Ridge Road, where he greeted about 40 Biden campaign volunteers while wearing a mask.
Trump tweeted about the event while it was happening, complaining that Fox News was airing it live.
“Now@FoxNews is playing Obama’s no crowd, fake speech for Biden, a man he could barely endorse because he couldn’t believe hewon,” Trump tweeted.
Polls have shown a razor-thin margin between former vice president Biden and Trump, so both candidates and their allies are campaigning nearly non stop in the state. By Tuesday morning, about 6.4 million Floridians had either voted by mail or cast ballots at an early-voting location.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer were among the speakers who warmed up the crowd.
“Youare themost important voters in this country,” Dyer said. “We need to win Florida, and we need to win the I-4 corridor for Biden-Harris.”
Fried said the work done by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved the way for higher office for herself and many other women. Ginsburg was succeeded Monday by President Trump’ s appointee, Amy Coney Barret, and she is expected to tip the court to 6-3 conservative.
“That is what’s on the ballot this year,” Fried said. “We have to make sure that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy is not lost.”
Emma Trittin, a University of Central Florida senior, said her age group of 18-29-year-olds was coming out in force this year, with more than 400,000 voting early.
“I think Floridians are really fed up with how the past four years have gone with the Trump administration,’’ she said. “Youth are really stepping up and voting because they know that they have power in their voice.”
The Orlando trip comes after Obama held a drive-in car rally for the Biden campaign in Miami on Saturday.
Biden is scheduled to be in Broward County and Tampa on Thursday, part of a last-week campaign sweep through the important swing state.
Trump has held rallies in Sanford, Ocala, The Village sand Pensacola since mid-October, while Pence has held events in Orlando, The Villages and Lakeland.
Early voting continues until Saturday or Sunday, depending on the county. Election Day is next Tuesday.