Barack Obama to tell voters Trump has treated office as a reality show ‘to get the attention he craves’

45th president ‘hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t,’ 44th will claim

Former President Barack Obama will use his Democratic National Committee address to contend Donald Trump has treated the office like a “reality show” to bathe in “the attention he craves”.

The 44th president will echo Democratic officials past and present who spoke on the virtual event’s first two nights by describing the 45th chief executive as uninterested and unfit to occupy the Oval Office, according to excerpts of his speech released by the Democratic National Committee. To be sure, there is plenty at stake for Mr Obama, whose policy achievements have been shredded by Mr Trump and whose legacy was tarnished when he was replaced by the hardline populist conservative.

Mr Obama must achieve two things with his Wednesday night address. He must convince voters that how he conducted himself as president was superior to Mr Trump’s approach, convince voters across the country that California Senator Kamala Harris is qualified to become president should something happen to 77-year-old Joe Biden, and explain to the country why the designated Democratic presidential nominee deserves a shot at being the commander in chief.

“I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies,” he will say, referring to his many meetings and huddles with Mr Biden and a lengthy meeting with Mr Trump following his election.

“I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care,” Mr Obama will tell voters.

“But he never did. He’s shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends, no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves,” the former president will say.

About 48 hours after his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, told the country again to “go high” when Mr Trump goes “low”, Mr Obama also will contend the Oval Office’s current occupant “hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t”.

Dinging the president for his Covid-19 response, Mr Obama will say “the consequences of that failure are severe” because “170,000 Americans [are] dead”.

“Millions of jobs gone. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished,” he will say, “and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.”

That part of his message will be similar to other current and former Democratic officials, including both former president Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer contending Mr Trump’s coronavirus response shows he has “quit” on the country.

Mr Obama also is expected to give a rousing endorsement of his former No 2, who is leading Mr Trump by 7.7 percentage points nationally and by statistically significant margins in a handful of crucial swing states – and is competitive in typically red ones that political strategists suggest mean the president has an uphill fight to secure a second term.