Obama rallies for Democrats in suburban Atlanta ahead of midterm elections
Former US president Barack Obama spoke at a Wednesday rally in Georgia backing Democratic candidates a week before the US midterm elections. He sharply criticised Donald Trump and Republicans.
Former US president Barack Obama took part on Wednesday, 28 October, in a campaign rally in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, urging voters to back Democratic candidates. The midterm elections, in which Americans choose Congress and a number of state leaders, take place next week, making the event one of the final stops of the campaign. The result will determine which party controls Congress for the rest of President Donald Trump's term.
Obama came to Georgia to support US senator Jon Ossoff, former Atlanta mayor and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, and other Democrats on the ballot. The event took place at the Discovery Center in Clayton county, south of Atlanta, and drew between 3,500 and 4,000 people.
Criticism of Trump
Obama said Trump and the Republicans were "not serious people" and that everyone was paying the price for it. He again referred to Trump's gilded renovations of the White House and to his joke last week comparing it to Saddam Hussein decorating a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. By his account, the White House responded to the joke with a full government effort, even calling the treasury secretary and telling him to hold a press conference in front of the restaurant. Obama also claimed Trump had made billions of dollars while in office.
Other speakers
Ossoff accused the president of corruption and referred to Democrats' pledge to pursue impeachment if they win control of Congress next year. Bottoms contrasted her candidacy with that of Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive. Senator Raphael Warnock warned about deep cuts to Medicaid and to SNAP, the nutrition support programme for children.
Polls show Ossoff leading Republican US Representative Mike Collins by 8 to 10 points, while Bottoms is statistically tied with Jackson. A Bottoms victory would end Republican control of both legislative chambers and the governor's office in the state, which has lasted since 2004. Trump was holding a rally in Ohio at the same time.
