U.S. President Donald Trump has attracted criticism for a less-than-stellar defense of himself after coming under fire from former first lady Michelle Obama for his handling of the coronavirus crisis and his leadership style.
Obama was the principal speaker during the first of a four-day virtual Democratic National Convention. The convention nominated Joe Biden the official Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. presidential election Nov. 3. Sen. Kamala Harris is the party's candidate for vice president. Several polls show Biden is a clear leader in the race.
Late Monday Obama criticized Trump for his failure as a leader and president - especially his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic she said had taken 150,000 American lives. She said Americans could no longer look to Trump for leadership or any semblance of steadiness. Instead, Americans got "chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy."
"Let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can," Obama said. "Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is."
Asked to respond to Obama, Trump said: "Well she's in over her head, and frankly, she should've made the speech live, which she didn't do," Trump said. "She taped it. And it was not only taped, it was taped a long time ago, because she had the wrong deaths. She didn't even mention the vice presidential candidate."
Political observers and pundits said it was odd Trump chose to concentrate on the figure of 150,000 coronavirus deaths as proof Obama taped her convention speech. They said that the figure had risen to 170,000 and if Obama had used that number it would have been worse for Trump.
Obama praised Biden, her husband's vice president. She encouraged Americans to vote for Biden whom she described as a "profoundly decent man, guided by his faith," and to not give "the wrong president for our country" four more years.
Obama said Biden "knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country." She said Biden's life was a testament "to getting back up and he is going to channel that same grit and passion to pick us all up, to help us heal and guide us forward."
"If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can - and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it."
