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Barack Obama endorsed Kamala Harris as a president who would create a fairer and stronger economy.
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The former president said the Democratic nominee would expand access to good jobs, schools and housing.
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Donald Trump would cut taxes to enrich his already wealthy friends if re-elected, Obama said.
Barack Obama praised Vice President Kamala Harris as the right person to revive and stabilize the US economy in his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In contrast, the former president warned that Donald Trump would seek to enrich his wealthy friends and oppose unions if returned to the White House.
“In this new economy, we need a president who truly cares about the millions of people across this country who wake up every single day to do the essential, often thankless work of caring for our sick, cleaning our streets, delivering packages,” Obama said. “We need a president who will defend his right to negotiate better wages and working conditions.”
The Harris administration is committed to expanding access to quality education, home ownership, middle-class jobs and fair wages, the former president said.
Obama added that Harris and his running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, understood the power of expanding opportunity. Lifting others up improves everyone’s well-being, making sure women get a fair wage helps all families, and making sure every child gets a good education means “the whole economy gets stronger,” she said.
During a rousing speech that moved Democratic delegates, Obama also took aim at Trump: “He wants the middle class to pay the price for a huge new tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends.”
Obama, who served two terms, drew a stark contrast between Democratic and Republican ideologies. He said Trump and his wealthy supporters’ idea of freedom was not paying taxes and firing workers if they tried to unionize, while Democrats see freedom as having clean air and water, safe schools and fair wages for everyone.
Americans have cited economic inequality as a major concern ahead of November’s presidential election.
Annual inflation rose to a 40-year high of over 9% in the summer of 2022 and remains above the US Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The central bank raised interest rates from near zero to a two-decade high of 5.25 percent to curb rising prices, and has yet to make its first cut.
There is an affordability crisis in the housing market and interest rates on 30-year mortgages are almost 7%, which has not been normal for more than 20 years.
The grim combination of higher food, gas, and rent costs, steeper monthly payments on credit cards, car loans, and mortgages, along with the fantasy of home ownership, has caused considerable dissatisfaction among many people.
This is despite a significant cooling of inflation, high hopes for the Fed’s first rate cut in September, an unemployment rate that has remained historically low at around 4 percent, and steady growth in wages, jobs and output in recent years.
Read the original article on Business Insider
