Obama: Don’t be ‘bamboozled’ by Trump

President Obama on Tuesday urged Ohioans not to be “bamboozled” into voting for Donald Trump, who has appealed to working-class voters in the critical battleground state.

 

“This guy?” Obama asked a raucous crowd at a rally for Hillary Clinton in the state capital of Columbus. “Don’t be bamboozled. Don’t run for that okie-doke. Come on.”

 

{mosads}Obama cast Trump as a politician who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but never showed concern for working people until he started running for office.

 

“That guy had never worn a baseball hat … until he started sellin’ ’em to make some money. Come on,” Obama said. 

 

The president is kicking off a final-week campaign blitz for Clinton that will take him to six cities in three swing states. 

 

Obama did not directly address the renewed controversy surrounding the former secretary of State’s private email server, which has dogged her campaign and boosted Trump in the race’s final days.

 

But he defended Clinton’s judgment and character, saying “she is consistently treated differently than just about any other candidate I see out there.”

 

“Has she made mistakes? Of course, so I have I,” the president said. “There’s nobody in the public arena over the course of 30 years who doesn’t make some. 

 

“But she is a fundamentally good and decent person who knows what she is doing and will be an outstanding president,” he added. 

 

Obama attributed the scrutiny surrounding Clinton to the sexism she’s faced as the first major-party presidential nominee. 

 

“When a guy is out there being ambitious and out in the pubic arena and working hard, well that’s OK,” the president said. “But when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you’re all like, ‘Well why is she doing that?'”

 

The Clinton campaign is hoping Obama can help her turn out young people and African-American voters, who were a crucial part of his winning coalition in 2008 and 2012. 

 

Both voting groups strongly support Clinton, but there are concerns whether they will show up to vote for the Democratic nominee. They could prove to be the difference in states like Ohio and North Carolina, where Obama is stumping this week. 

 

Obama on Tuesday revived his “bamboozled” line of attack against Trump. It’s phrase, which echoed the words of Malcom X, that he used in front of African-American audiences during his first run for president. 

 

The president also hit the businessman as “uniquely” unqualified to serve as president for his refusal to release his tax returns, his lack knowledge on foreign policy and his and allegations of sexual misconduct against women. 

 

“Who you are — what you are — does not change once you occupy the Oval Office,” Obama said. “It shows who you are.

 

“Don’t act like this is normal,” he added. “This is not your typical election.”