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DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE – One final plea. A last-ditch effort.
President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of approximately 7,000 people at the University of New Hampshire Monday afternoon, delivering an enthusiastic final call to action to get young voters to the polls in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Obama’s appearance was part of Clinton’s “big finale” campaign push, which included rallies featuring campaign heavyweights around the country the day before Election Day.
His speech was punctuated by the relatable style and punchy rhetoric that made him so popular in this state four and eight years ago.
“I know it’s been a long campaign, and I know its been full of negative ads and distractions and noise. I want you to tune all that out,” Obama said. “We can choose the politics and blame and divisiveness and resentment, or you can choose the politics that say we’re stronger together.”
Obama made his case to the crowd for why Clinton is the best choice for president, speaking strongly against Clinton’s opponent, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who also held a rally in the Granite State Monday.
“Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to hold this job, and the good news, New Hampshire, is you are uniquely qualified to make sure he doesn’t get this job,” Obama said. “Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. This is not just by opinion. This is the opinion of a lot of Republicans.”
Obama pivoted his usual remarks to fit his audience — mostly UNH students. He acknowledged that when he was first elected, “some of you were 10.”
“You were watching Nickelodeon, and I was trying to think back,” Obama said. “You had ‘Josh and Drake,’ [sic] ‘iCarly,’ although in our household, SpongeBob ruled.”
And the crowd was receptive. Screams of “Four More Years!” or “Barack, you the GOAT” filled any dead air.
Obama used humor, either against Trump or himself, to appeal to the younger crowd.
“Over the weekend, [Trump’s] campaign took his Twitter account away from him,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience. “If your closest advisers don’t trust you to tweet, how can you trust him with the nuclear codes?”
He repeated his now-iconic clarion call, “Don’t boo, vote” three different times throughout his speech, typically whenever the crowd got worked up against Trump.
Obama urged young people in the crowd to not “give away your power,” and to actively participate in the electoral process instead.
“It isn’t that often in life that you just know you can make a difference … that you have a chance to make history,” Obama said.
A common theme of the afternoon was electing Democratic candidates for statewide and congressional positions, as well as for president.
New Hampshire Gov. and candidate for senator Maggie Hassan, gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern and candidate for the House of Representatives Carol Shea-Porter all spoke before Obama.
“The future and our great state and our great country … is on the line here,” Hassan said while introducing Obama.
Congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords was also one of the opening speakers.
“Hillary is tough, Hillary is courageous … she will stand up to the gun lobby — that’s why I’m voting for Hillary,” she said.
Ironically, avid Clinton supporter Teresa Perry, 46, of Silver Lake, New Hampshire, struggled to decide whether or not she would attend the rally.
“I was supposed to help canvas for Carroll County … but I was checking the polls last night and this morning, and they’re close, and Hillary has a slight lead and I just thought this was something really important and historic,” Perry said, sporting a T-shirt that depicted Clinton as a superhero, cape and all.
Starting Tuesday morning, however, Perry will be back on the ground canvassing, she said.
As a member of UNH College Republicans, Elizabeth Girard said she came to the rally simply to see the president speak, despite their differences in beliefs. However, she declined to say which candidate she supported in this presidential election.
“It’s an absolute honor to have [Obama] with us at the University of New Hampshire,” said Girard, a senior theater major. “He’s always very captivating. I’ve never had the opportunity to see him live, but I’m really glad that I came out to see him. I thought he did a great job.”
