Obama: ‘America is already great,’ vote Hillary

President Obama and Hillary Clinton 

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“And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump,” he said, to commingled hurrahs and laughter.


Philadelphia . (AP)  President Obama formally passed the torch to Hillary Clinton on Wednesday — but not before using it to try to burn down Donald Trump’s hopes of the White House and to light a fire under any Democratic voters inclined to stay home in November.

“America is already great, America is already strong,” Obama told rowdy, sign-waving party activists packed into Wells Fargo Center arena here, cheering his direct assault on the Republican nominee’s signature slogan.

“And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump,” he said, to commingled hurrahs and laughter.

The brash entrepreneur “is not actually offering any real solutions,” Obama contended. “He’s just offering slogans, and he’s offering fear. He’s betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election.”

At one point, he veered away from prepared remarks to knock Trump’s embrace of birtherism, the disproven, racism-fueled conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore an illegitimate president.

“My grandparents, they came from the heartland; their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago,” he said. “I don’t know if they had their birth certificates, but they were there!”

And Obama promised that Hillary would “finish the job” of defeating the so-called Islamic State, while protecting on issues like health care reform, reining in Wall Street and advancing gay rights.

“I’m here to tell you that yes, we’ve still got more work to do,” he said. “That work involves a big choice this November.”

Amid concerns among some Democrats that disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters might stay home, forfeiting the presidency to Trump, Obama had a message for those whose allegiance is still to the progressive Vermont senator's movement.

“If you’re serious about our democracy, you can’t afford to stay home just because she might not align with you on every issue,” he warned. “We’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.”

At the end of his remarks, Clinton emerged unannounced from backstage, beaming, and the two shared a long bear hug before patrolling the stage together, waving to the crowd.