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Obama, Harris to Criticize Trump in Prime-Time Convention Speech

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Former President Barack Obama intends to deliver his most
   pointed criticisms to date of current U.S. President Donald Trump
   during his prime-time address to the Democratic National Convention on
   Wednesday evening.

   In excerpts of his broadcast speech released in advance earlier
   Wednesday, Obama says, "I hoped, for the good of our country, that
   Donald Trump could show the desire to take his role seriously, that he
   could feel the weight of the office. But he never did."

   Trump, 74, succeeded Obama, 59, as U.S. leader after the 2016
   presidential election.

   "The consequences of this failure are serious: 170,000 Americans dead,
   millions of jobs lost, our worst instincts released, our glorious
   reputation around the world greatly tarnished," Obama's released
   excerpts say.

   Upon release of the comments, Trump responded, criticizing Obama as
   having been "ineffective" and putting U.S. democracy in danger.

   "When I listen to that and I see the horror that he's left us, the
   stupidity of the transactions that he made. Look what we're doing. We
   have our great border wall. We have security," Trump said at an
   afternoon news conference. "Look how bad he was, how ineffective he
   was."

   In normal U.S. campaigns, former presidents typically withhold
   criticisms of a sitting president.

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