Tim Kaine, and her campaign manager, Robby Mook, declined to say when they first learned about her condition.
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But the way she and her team handled the episode this past weekend helps explain why battleground state polls show her neck and neck with a Republican nominee who has spent much of the year insulting large swaths of the electorate. “He wasn’t gonna let you buy in his condo”. “And now he wants to be your champion?” he asked. While Obama’s Philadelphia stop was planned well ahead of Clinton’s declaration that half of her rival’s supporters were “deplorable” and new worries about her transparency, the campaign hopes the president’s rally can at least provide a new storyline.
In her stead, Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, was set to step in for his wife at a fundraiser in California and a campaign stop in Nevada. Obama insisted that Clinton had “been subjected to more scrutiny and…”
Several times, Obama contrasted Trump’s brand of conservatism with that of President Ronald Reagan.
“They’ve clearly framed the race as a referendum on Donald Trump”, said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. On the other, Obama argued that the US “cannot afford to act as if there’s some equivalence here” between the two candidates, saying Trump has tried to turn the campaign into a “reality show” and does not understand the magnitude of the position he’s seeking to hold. “He loves this guy”.
“This isn’t Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party”, Obama said, scoffing at Trump’s effort to win over dissatisfied working-class voters. “But I don’t go around saying that’s my role model”.
“We have to make sure that Trump does not get in and ruin this country”, local designer Erica Sullivan said, sporting a festive hat with pictures of Clinton and Obama embracing.
“I’m afraid, especially when it comes to health, that she may think she can’t show any weaknesses”, Watson said.
“You know, it’s one thing to speculate on Hillary’s health and that’s fair game for obvious reasons, but the reality is in one week, we’ll know”, Cuban said. “This is serious business”, Obama said, his voice rising.
He praised Clinton at length, in the same terms he’s used as the past, reiterating his assertion that “there has never been a man or a woman who has been more qualified to serve as our president”, and praising her work ethic and her judgment.
Obama’s event at an outdoor plaza in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art was his third for Clinton, including his speech at the Democratic National Convention, also in Philadelphia. And despite volumes of policy proposals, even Clinton supporters often strain to identify cohesive themes, independent of Trump, in her campaign. “He wasn’t going to let you on his golf course”, Obama said. “This not me going through the motions”. Even if the kids were naughty, they would just get it. “Every time I thought I was ahead, it was like climbing up the Rocky steps”.
Both campaigns are fighting over Philadelphia – and especially its middle-class suburbs – as educated white voters have turned into a swing demographic.
Trump will propose in a speech on Tuesday night allowing families to deduct the cost of childcare expenses from income taxes, his campaign said, a move aimed at bolstering his support among women voters.
Obama acknowledged that Trump was thriving off of the same kind of energy that he received during his own presidential campaign, but warned his supporters not to take Hillary Clinton for granted.
Afterward, Obama was scheduled to headline a number of fundraisers in Philadelphia and NY to benefit the Democratic National Committee, which will pay the cost of the president’s campaign trip on Air Force One.
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White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters to expect more presidential campaign trips in the coming weeks.
