by nolan d. mccaskill 11/01/16 07:16 pm edt president barack obama suggested tuesday that hillary clinton faces a double standard as the first female presidential nominee of a major party against an outlandish opponent whose rhetoric and behavior are being normalized. <u+201c>i saw her as my secretary of state. i saw her in the situation room making arguments to go after [osama] bin laden even though it was risky, tirelessly circling the globe as secretary of state, respected around the world,<u+201d> obama said tuesday during a rally in columbus, ohio. <u+201c>her efforts are not always flashy and they<u+2019>re not always appreciated here at home, but she made me a better president and she didn<u+2019>t ask for credit.<u+201d> story continued below pitting clinton against donald trump, obama argued that the choice to succeed him is not even close. it<u+2019>s clinton, he stressed, who has the experience, intelligence, temperament and heart to occupy the oval office. the president even swatted down the <u+201c>i love you<u+201d> that was shouted from the crowd so he could continue making his case, remarking that <u+201c>i love you back, but i wanna talk about hillary for a second.<u+201d> <u+201c>you know, we always wanna see the new shiny object, and if you get beat up enough in this political environment that<u+2019>s so toxic, after a while people start believing stuff. hillary clinton is consistently treated differently than just about any other candidate i see out there,<u+201d> obama said. <u+201c>and as i said, some of it is she<u+2019>s just been around a long time and so people kinda, they just believe whatever<u+2019>s said by the other side in their systematic attacks, and it wears on people<u+2019>s attitudes and over time they go, <u+2018>well, maybe <u+2014><u+2019> no, no, no, do not believe that stuff.<u+201d> obama challenged men specifically to look in the mirror and ask themselves why, exactly, they may be feeling so much discomfort with clinton. by brent griffiths <u+201c>she is a fundamentally good and decent person, knows what she<u+2019>s doing and will be an outstanding president, and, by the way, i just wanna say it. to the guys out there, i wanna be honest,<u+201d> he began. <u+201c>you know, there<u+2019>s a reason why we haven<u+2019>t had a woman president before.<u+201d> <u+201c>i want every man out there who<u+2019>s voting to kinda look inside yourself and ask yourself, well, if you<u+2019>re having problems with this stuff, how much of it is, you know, that we<u+2019>re just not used to it?<u+201d> he added. <u+201c>when a guy<u+2019>s ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, well, that<u+2019>s ok. but when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you<u+2019>re all like, <u+2018>well, why is she doing that?<u+2019> i<u+2019>m just being honest.<u+201d> obama railed against the gop nominee, casting trump as an atypical candidate who is <u+201c>uniquely unqualified<u+201d> for office and would erase the progress of his administration if elected. he even borrowed republicans<u+2019> rhetoric about the man who has become their standard-bearer, including florida sen. marco rubio<u+2019>s claim that the real estate mogul is a <u+201c>con man.<u+201d> while there was a little something in the speech for every key democratic constituency, obama also aimed his message squarely at trump<u+2019>s base: working class men. the president mockingly questioned the real-estate mogul<u+2019>s everyman bona fides and insisted, flatly, trump is not their champion. 2016 by eli stokols and gabriel debenedetti <u+201c>the notion that this guy's gonna fight for working people when his entire life he did not have time for anybody who wasn't rich or a celebrity, who wouldn't let you into one of his hotels in unless you were cleaning the room, wouldn't let you onto one of his golf courses unless you were mowing the fairway? come on,<u+201d> obama said. "this guy is gonna be your champion? come on. there are a lot of working folks in ohio, proud people who make an honest living, and i hear them saying, <u+2018>well i don't know, trump, maybe, you know, maybe he<u+2019>s not so bad.' come on! this guy?<u+201d> <u+201c>don't be bamboozled,<u+201d> he warned. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t run for that okie doke. come on. that guy had never worn a baseball hat or a seed hat until he started selling them to make some money. come on.<u+201d> he also questioned working people who have given any thought to supporting trump, a man he said has spent 70 years showing <u+201c>no regard<u+201d> for them and <u+201c>open disdain<u+201d> for minorities, women and others. he referenced some of trump<u+2019>s disparaging comments, including his sexual assault rhetoric in a 2005 <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> video, and knocked him for having the support of white supremacists, threatening the press when they publish stories he doesn<u+2019>t like and vowing to jail his political opponent. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t act like this is normal. this is not your typical election,<u+201d> obama said. <u+201c>the problem is that things have become so polarized that people start talking themselves into <u+2018>maybe it<u+2019>s not so bad,<u+2019> but it is. it really is.<u+201d> clinton, he said, summarizing his position, <u+201c>is so much better qualified than the other guy. she has conducted herself so much better in public life than the other guy. that this notion that somehow, you know, it<u+2019>s hard to choose <u+2014> it shouldn<u+2019>t be.<u+201d> sarah wheaton contributed to this report. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
obama suggests voters holding clinton to a double standard - politico
nolan d. mccaskill brent griffiths eli stokols gabriel debenedetti jack shafer