Obama urges voters to choose Biden to lead US out of darkness

Miami, US, Oct 24 (efe-epa).- Former United States president Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s top draw in the final stretch of the campaign ahead of the Nov. 3 election, urged people in Miami on Saturday to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to pull the country out of “dark times.”

“What we do in these next 10 days will matter for decades to come,” Obama said in a passionate speech, underlining that it was possible to have a better America led by his “friend” Biden.

Obama’s participation in the event in support of the Democratic candidate came just hours after President Donald Trump cast his vote in West Palm Beach, near his Mar-a-Lago mansion in southern Florida.

Four years ago, as the Republican presidential candidate, Trump had voted on election day in Manhattan, New York, where he was registered, but in 2019 he changed his residence to Florida, a state with a lower tax burden.

Early voting was also recommended by Obama at the rally in the parking lot at a university in North Miami city, with attendees in their vehicles or outside but at a safe distance from one another keeping in mind the COVID-19 crisis.

The crowd showed its approval and support at the rally by honking their car horns, as well as the usual applause, shouts and cheers.

The former president did not stop condemning on the current president, accusing him of taking credit for the economic achievements of the previous presidency and assuming “zero blame” in the pandemic that has left more than 200,000 people dead and affected millions in the US.

“There’s no sense that he’s coming up with a new approach, with a new plan. He doesn’t even acknowledge that there’s a problem,” Obama said, attacking the president’s COVID-19 response and claiming that Trump had done nothing in this regard.

He underlined that health workers had been at the front lines in the fight against the pandemic without the necessary protective equipment, for which they had to ask for help from other countries, to highlight the “dark times” that the US is experiencing.

Obama implied that the current president doesn’t care about the people and said he doesn’t display “normal behavior.”

“The only people truly better off than they were four years ago are the billionaires who got Trump tax cuts,” he said.

He also wondered why Americans put up with Trump, who “only paid $750 in federal income tax” in his first year in the White House.

“You’ve got secretaries, you’ve got construction workers, you’ve got your healthcare workers, nurses, who pay a lot more in income taxes than that,” Obama said, while asking the people to vote to change the direction of the country.

In his speech, he sought votes for Biden and asked people not to believe Trump’s “lies” in presenting the Democrat as a “secret socialist.”

“Listening to the Republicans, you’d think Joe was more Communist than the Castros. Don’t fall for that garbage, don’t fall for that okeydoke,” he said. ” I think folks would know if he’s a secret socialist by now.”

Obama asked people to believe in the former vice president’s support for workers and his resolve to fight inequality and racism.

The former president also said that the Affordable Care Act, passed during his term and dubbed Obamacare, would be at risk if Trump is given another four years in the White House.

Biden will ensure that those with pre-existing health conditions are covered by health insurance and that when a vaccine against COVID-19 is available, it will be distributed free of charge to Americans, he said.

Before Obama’s speech, several distinguished women from the Democratic Party addressed the rally, including Ecuador-born Congressman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the first woman of South American origin to enter US Congress.

She described the Trump presidency as an administration that had failed the people.