Speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala Saturday night, Obama made an impassioned pitch to voters who may be leery of Clinton by putting his legacy as the first African American president on the ticket in November.
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The Associated Press reported that Clinton was also honoured with the Trailblazer award for becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party.
During his remarks to a packed ballroom at the Washington Convention Center – where Clinton preceded him at the lectern – Obama also mocked Republican nominee Donald Trump for advancing questions about the validity of his birth certificate and for claiming that this is the worst time to be a black American.
The president pressed the crowd to give him a good send-off by registering people to vote. “If you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake, on the progress we have made is at stake in this election”, he said. Obama pushed for a $75 million police body camera program in response to the police killings of unarmed black men, and created initiatives to support black youths.
Obama joked about the “birther” issue long promoted and now dismissed by Trump, telling his audience that there’s an extra spring in his step now that the “whole birther thing is over”.
‘That’s not good. That is on us, ‘ Obama said.
“I am so relieved the whole birther thing is over”, Obama said, referring to Trump’s conclusion just Friday the president is a citizen. “Get people registered to vote”.
Obama agreed that the black community has “challenges”, but, he said, “we’re not stupid”.
During the gala, Obama quipped about one the biggest sore spots African Americans have against Trump.
“We need ideas, not insults”. “We can’t let Barack Obama’s legacy fall into the hands of someone who doesn’t understand that, whose risky and divisive vision for our country will drag us backwards”. In her own speech, Clinton urged the crowd to help protect Obama’s legacy and warned of the “dangerous and divisive vision” coming from Trump. He publicly sat out the Democratic primary, but wasofficially coordinating with the Clinton campaign by June. That it doesn’t matter who we elect, read up on your history, it matters. President, not only do we know you are an American, you are a great American’.
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Obama responded to Trump’s confirmation of his birthplace by saying, “In other breaking news, the world is round, not flat”.
