President Barack Obama is interrupting what so far has been a leisurely vacation to campaign and help raise money for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
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The White House said Mr Obama is just trying to get the most out of the time he’s spending here with family and friends before the busy season, packed with foreign and domestic travel, begins.
Obama delivered remarks to 60 donors, who each paid between $10,000 and $33,400 to attend, and answered some of their questions.
Obama said Clinton is “not always the flashiest” but she is “the person who’s going to do the work”.
“When I say do our jobs, what I mean is we are going to have to continue to be engaged, we are going to continue to have to write checks, we are going to continue to have to make phone calls and rally people behind her candidacy”, Obama said.
As is their yearly tradition, the Obamas are on summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, or, as it’s more commonly known to locals and visitors, “The Martha”.
Obama said Democrats have a tendency to alternate between freak-out mode and complacency, and he urged the crowd to veer somewhere in between the two extremes.
“She’s not always the flashiest; she’s not always the person who’s going to give you the big stem-winder”, Obama said.
Apparently, when it comes to talking about Trump, Obama has reached that point.
The president is expected to campaign heavily for Clinton in October.
The event is taking place at a private residence in Chilmark, the town where the president is renting a vacation home.
President Obama then played a round of golf at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs. Instead they tried switching the venue to the Jefferson Hotel (a frequent fundraising spot for Obama only two blocks from the White House).
“He really won’t go up 20 minutes for $350k?” another staffer responded.
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The president said Trump’s recent criticism of Muslim parents who lost their USA soldier son in Iraq, as well as the candidate’s lack of “basic knowledge” about critical worldwide issues ‘means that he’s woefully unprepared to do this job’.
