WS Chronicle

President tells Republicans they should unendorsed Trump

BY TODD LUCK

THE CHRONICLE

President Barack Obama said Republicans should not just denounce comments by their presidential candidate, but also un-endorse him.

Obama was stumping for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a rally in Greensboro on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the  White Oak Amphitheater. He repeated his argument that she’s “qualified” for the office, while Republican nominee Donald Trump is “unfit.” In the past few days, some elected Republicans have come to agree, refusing to campaign with Trump or taking back their endorsement of him after a 2005 tape surfaced in which Trump discusses groping women.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has said publicly he still supports Trump because he believes in forgiveness. Though Obama didn’t mention Burr by name, he said he didn’t agree with the notion.

“I, too, believe in forgiveness and redemption, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to elect the person president,” he said.

Obama said Trump’s remarks would disqualify him from working at 7-11, much less from becoming president. He said the remarks come as no surprise from a man who’s said derogatory things about immigrants, Muslims, the disabled and a Gold Star family. Republicans can’t keep denouncing what Trump says while continuing to endorse him, the president said.

While the Real Clear Politics average of both national and state polls has shown Clinton ahead of Trump for months, the gap has widened since the tape came out. The RPC average of polls found Clinton had a 5 percent lead nationally and 2.6 percent lead in the state.

Democrats are hoping that down ballot races will get a boost from Clinton’s surge. Obama encouraged attendees to vote for Democratic candidates for governor and senate.

Obama’s poll numbers are up too. A recent CNN/ORC poll has Obama’s approval rating at 55 percent, which is the highest in his second term and tied with his highest approval rating ever.

Obama talked about progress made during his eight years, such as drop-ping unemployment, continued job growth and a historic number of Americans with health insurance.

“All that progress goes out the window if we don’t make the right choice just four weeks from today,” he said. “The closer we get, the clearer the choice becomes.”

Obama acknowledged that there was still work to be done. He said there were still uninsured Americans, racial division, families struggling to pay their bills and areas that still haven’t recovered economically. He said his victories haven’t been perfect and that work must be done to make them better.

Also during the rally, he praised the efforts of North Carolinians to help each other after the flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew. He pledged that the federal government would help the state recover.

Obama was introduced by Henry Frye, who was the first African-American chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. Earlier in the day Obama visited N.C. A&T State University to tape “A Conversation with The President: Sports, Race and Achievement” for ESPN’s The Undefeated. It was scheduled to be shown at 10 p.m. Tuesday.