Barack Obama Endorses Joe Biden, Blasts Donald Trump For Treating Presidency 'Like A Reality Show'

Barack Obama made a fiery campaign speech on Wednesday as he stumped for presidential candidate Joe Biden during a drive-in rally in Philadelphia. The former U.S. president kicked off his 2020 campaign trail this week, less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 elections.

“We got 13 days,” he said. “That’s our lucky number right here. Thirteen days until the most important election of our lifetimes. What we do these next 13 days will matter for decades to come,” he added.

Obama alternated between expressing his support for his former vice president and attacking Donald Trump, whom he accused of treating the presidency like a reality show he can use for attention. “But the thing is, this is not a reality show. This is reality,” he said.

“The rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him proving himself incapable of taking the job seriously. At least 220,000 Americans have died. More than 100,000 small businesses have closed. Millions of jobs are gone. Our proud reputation around the world is in tatters,” he said.

Blasting Trump’s poor COVID-19 response, Obama said by contrast, Joe Biden would not “screw up testing” or call scientists idiots. He also said Biden would not host a super-spreader event at the White House like Trump did, but get the pandemic under control.

Barack Obama also attacked Trump over a recent report claiming that he had only paid $750 in federal income tax during the year he became president. He said he would have paid more taxes at 15, when he got his first job at a Baskin-Robbins.

He urged the people of Philadelphia to choose change by voting for Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, as the next leaders of the U.S. “We cannot afford four more years of this, Philadelphia,” he said. “But the good news is, right now you can choose change. Right now, you can vote for my friend, Joe Biden, and his running mate, Kamala Harris, as the next president and vice president of the United States of America.”

Barack Obama said he knows Joe Biden as a man who treats everybody with dignity and respect, and that that’s the kind of man that America needs at its helm. “And I can tell you, the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are,” he said.