Politics

In Florida, Obama urges voters to deliver ‘change that we need’

Miami, Nov 2 (efe-epa).- Former President Barack Obama signed off Joe Biden’s campaign on Monday in the strategic state of Florida, pitching hard for the Democratic presidential hopeful and urging Americans to vote for him and deliver “the change that we need.”

In a scathing criticism of Donald Trump, Obama at the drive-in rally in Miami likened the president to “a two-bit dictator” and called the Nov.3 presidential polls “the most important election of our lifetimes.”

“I have been involved in some pretty important elections, like mine, but this one is more important. Tomorrow, right here, in South Florida, you can deliver the change that we need,” he said to a cheering crowd in the closeout rally on the eve of Election Day with “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi.

“Vote like our lives depend on it (and) elect Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.”

The state is a critical battleground for the two presidential candidates who are in a dead heat amid a tie that persisted a few hours before the polls open on Tuesday morning.

In tune with the message of Fonsi, who called for “saving democracy” through suffrage, Obama urged people to vote for Biden and save American values.

Some 250 vehicles, including one with several flags of Latin American countries, gathered in a clearing in which their drivers and passengers danced to the rhythm of Fonsi and the African-American DJ Irie.

The former president, popular with Latinos, visited Miami-Dade County for the second time in less than a week to rally for Biden.

The county is home to more than 2.7 million Floridians, the most populous in the state.

“We have seen Americans of all races joining together to declare in the face of injustice and brutality that black lives matter no more but no less. Hispanic lives matter, no more, no less,” Obama said in a county where 69 percent of residents are Hispanics and 17 percent are African American.

The former president went on to tout Obamacare and recalled that Miami-Dade had the highest enrollment of any county in the country in which the Latinos benefited the most.

He regretted that Trump had sought to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) approved by his government (2009-2017) and even taking it to the US Supreme Court.

“Miami-Dade has the highest enrollment under Obamacare of any county in Florida. Florida has the highest enrollment of any state in America. So, when Trump, last week, flat out said he hopes the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare is – what he is saying is he wants to take your health care insurance away.”

The Democrat scoffed at the Republicans for not being able to come up with a better plan than Obamacare.

“They said we will give you a better plan. They have been promising that for 10 years now. I keep on looking for it. I have looked for it everywhere, between the cushions in the couch, you know, it is nowhere to be found.”

A Jamaican immigrant, Grace Meatley, a nurse who has been treating Covid-19 patients in a Miami-Dade hospital, introduced Obama to the crow.

The county is one of the epicenters of the pandemic, with about 3,700 deaths and more than 187,000 confirmed cases since March 1.

The former president criticized that Trump lacks a plan to stop the pandemic and, on the contrary, conducts “covid spreader” tours for his campaigns.

“Joe cares about you and your safety, and your security. Trump cares about feeding his ego,” he said.

Obama said he was not rooting for Biden just because he was a Democrat.

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