As Hillary Clinton scaled back her campaign schedule to recover from a bout with pneumonia, Obama enthusiastically embraced his role in the campaign: as attack-dog-in-chief.”You think about it”, Obama repeated, citing the policies or lack thereof articulated by her opponent Donald Trump, who, he argued “isn’t fit in any way shape or form to represent this country overseas and be its commander in chief”.
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Speaking at an outdoor rally in a Democratic stronghold, Obama praised Clinton as the most qualified candidate ever to seek the office and mocked her opponent Donald Trump as “not fit in any way” to lead. She will resume campaign travel on Thursday, he said.
Even before Hillary Clinton faltered in NY on Sunday – hot, dehydrated and suffering from pneumonia – Donald Trump had been raising questions about Hillary Clinton’s “stamina” and whether she has the physical ability to serve as president.
Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis, and her campaign’s subsequent handling, is hurting her already waning polls numbers.
“We can bring about real change and real progress and the time has come for me to pass the baton on, but I know that Hillary is going to take it and she is going to run that race and she will finish that race and that is why I am with her, that is why I am fired up, that is why I am ready to go”.
The lopsided coverage certainly has been a source of frustration for Clinton supporters, even as the Democratic nominee prepares to return to the campaign trail on Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Clinton abruptly left the anniversary ceremony on Sunday morning and needed to be held up by three people before she appeared to stumble off a curb and was helped into a van. Democrats – and even some Republicans – warned, however, that this debate could backfire on Trump, drawing new attention to white supremacists and hate groups attracted by his “America first” message.
Mrs Clinton had planned to campaign on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Her campaign acknowledged it may have been too slow disclosing her pneumonia diagnosis after she almost fainted at a NY memorial ceremony for the September 11, 2001, attacks.
If the electorate largely reflects 2012, Clinton would capitalize on her standing among African-Americans and Hispanics wary of Trump.
Asked if she passed out during the incident on Sunday, she said: “No, I didn’t”. “I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton”.
Most presidential candidates have faced health questions – from Ronald Reagan’s age, to cancer with John Kerry, John McCain and Bob Dole – but they did it before the world of social media.
And David Plouffe, a former top strategist for President Obama, compared Mr. Trump to the portly former President William Howard Taft. Her doctor had told her to rest for five days, but she ignored the advice because she thought she “could power through it”, she said. “I’ve always seen her get up earlier and stay up later”.
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He focused his criticism on comments by Clinton last week in which she dismissed half of his supporters as a “basket of deplorables” of racist, homophobic people.
