Barack Obama marked his first solo campaign appearance this cycle by accusing Republicans of fanning the flames of “anger and hate” while dubbing Donald Trump’s entire persona as counter to the values of the nation he has led for eight years.

“What we’ve seen from the other side in this election, this isn’t Abraham Lincoln’s Republican party. This isn’t even the vision of freedom that Ronald Reagan talked about,” Obama told thousands of supporters in Philadelphia on Tuesday, adding that Trump was offering “a dark, pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, we turn away from the rest of the world”.



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“They’re not offering serious solutions. They’re just fanning resentment and blame and anger and hate. And that is not the America we know. That’s not the America I know.”

With Hillary Clinton sidelined this week while recovering from pneumonia, Obama reinforced many of themes the Democratic nominee has made central to her campaign. In particular, the president ridiculed Trump’s professions of admiration toward Vladimir Putin.

Recounting how Trump appeared on the Kremlin-backed television network RT “to talk down our military and to curry favor” with the Russian president, Obama added incredulously: “He loves this guy.”

“Can you imagine Ronald Reagan idolizing somebody like that? Think about the fact that that is Donald Trump’s role model.”

“I have to do business with Putin, I have to do business with Russia, that’s part of foreign policy,” he added, “but I don’t go around saying that’s my role model.”

The president’s comfort on the campaign trail was palpable, as he seldom strayed from a laid-back tone while seeking to jog memories among those gathered before him of the optimism that twice helped to propel him to the White House.

The mood was often bittersweet, as members of the audience repeatedly professed their love for Obama and even implored him not to go. But even as he was interrupted with chants of “thank you” midway through his remarks, the president sought to refocus the attention on his preferred successor.

He voiced his frustration with how the election was being covered, seemingly assigning some of the blame with a narrative-driven media. He did not mention this week’s frenzy over Clinton’s health and renewed rancor among the press over transparency within her campaign, but admonished reporters for creating a false equivalency between the two nominees, in part because Trump’s penchant for controversy has meant that “our standard for what’s normal has changed”.

“Do you mind if I just vent for a second?” Obama said. “You don’t grade the presidency on a curve.”

“You want to debate transparency, you have one candidate in this debate who’s released decades worth of her tax returns,” he said. “The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Barack Obama gestures during a rally for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, outside the art museum in Philadelphia. Photograph: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Those who believed in his agenda should vote for Clinton in November, he said, deeming her the most qualified individual to ever aspire to the presidency. Trump, Obama added, “isn’t fit in any shape or form” to serve as commander-in-chief.

“Talk to the other leaders around the world. They don’t even understand how this is close,” he said.



Obama also ripped into the comparisons between the Clinton Foundation and Trump’s own charities.

“One candidate’s family foundation has saved countless lives around the world,” he said.

“The other candidate’s foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself. He had the taste not to go for the 10-foot version.”

Obama’s swing through the Pennsylvania battleground coincided with an eight-year-high approval rating of 58%, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll on Monday. The president has enjoyed a steady uptick in job approval in recent months, which could serve as a boon for Clinton and counter Republican attacks that she is running for a “third Obama term”.

The first lady, Michelle Obama, is also expected to hit the campaign trail for Clinton this week, making a stop in the swing state of Virginia on Friday, while vice-president Joe Biden rallied voters in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday.

Although a tight schedule has kept Obama from campaigning more frequently, he made clear on Tuesday his eagerness to get back out in front of voters to make the case for his former secretary of state.

“This is not just me going through the motions,” he insisted. “I really, really, really wanna elect Hillary Clinton.”