As Biden campaigned in Georgia, his top campaign surrogate former President Barack Obama returned to the battleground state of Florida for another drive-in rally, urging Floridians to vote "right now" and warning them not to be complacent.
Greeted by blaring horns from supporters outside Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Obama opened his speech by pointing out the last time Florida’s Tampa Bay Rays were in the World Series, as they enter Game 7 tonight, was in 2008 -- when Florida helped send Obama to the White House.
"The Rays fell just a bit short then, but here in Florida, Democrats fell a little bit short in 2016 also," Obama said. "Over the next couple of weeks, Florida, you've got the chance to fix two mistakes. You've got the chance to set two things right. You can bring a World Series championship to the Sunshine State. And you can send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House."
“Don't take any chances. Just get it done,” Obama said.
Trump’s predecessor ripped into him for what he deemed his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, excoriating him for the outbreaks at the White House, noting he lived there for eight years and that it's a "controlled environment."
"He's turned the White House into a hot zone. Some of the places he holds rallies have seen new spikes right after he leaves town," Obama said. "We cannot afford this kind of incompetence and disinterest."
He also made his pitch specific to Florida, citing the loss of tourism and a spring training season the state experienced as cases spiked and noting how Trump has said he wouldn’t do anything differently looking back on his response.
“You can't think of anything that you might be doing differently? Like maybe you shouldn't have gotten on TV and suggested we might inject bleach to cure COVID," Obama said. "Think about how hard the tourism industry has been hit right here in Orlando, right here in Florida. You lost one spring training season already, and he can't think of doing anything differently?”
Obama also slammed Trump for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and what he deemed his "bizarre" behavior saying, "even Florida man wouldn’t be doing some of this stuff."
"Sometimes it's almost too easy to make fun of it, but it's serious. There are consequences to his actions. If he was just on Jerry Springer or something, you know, you'd say, ‘Well’ -- But this is the most powerful office on earth. And when people see the president doing things like that, it emboldens other people to be mean and cruel and divisive and racist. And it frays the fabric of our lives," Obama said.
Most attendees were standing outside their cars or sitting on top of them to get a better look -- still socially distanced and wearing masks. Almost every car has at least one "Biden/Harris" sign on it.
The trip comes after Obama held a drive-in rally for Biden in North Miami on Saturday in which he urged Florida voters to cast their ballots early. In the past two weeks, Trump has held rallies in Sanford, Ocala, The Villages and Pensacola and cast his own ballot in West Palm Beach Saturday.
Florida, which Trump narrowly won in 2016, is considered a critical state in the 2020 election with polls indicating the race will be decided by the thinnest of margins.
