President Barack Obama speaking at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, Nov. 3. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Launching an all-out blitz, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama cautioned Americans against a Donald Trump presidency by painting a grim picture of the country under him as the tight White House race entered its final phase. Ruing that Americans are listening and quietly watching rhetoric and crazy ideas of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, President Obama said that voters have become numb and such a new normal is unacceptable, writes Lalit K. Jha. – @siliconeer #siliconeer #2016USPresidentialPolls #Trump #Hillary #HillaryClinton #DonaldTrump #TheDonald #WhiteHouse #BarackObama

“Imagine it is January 20, 2017 and imagine that it is Donald Trump standing in front of the Capitol,” Clinton said at a rally in Tempe, Arizona.

“Imagine that he is taking the oath of office and then imagine that he is in the Oval Office making the decisions that affect your lives and your future,” she said.

Clinton painted a picture of her rival and Republican nominee as a president who demeans women, aggravates racial divisions and could “start a real war instead of a Twitter war.”

Obama echoed the views of his former secretary of state at an election rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Nov. 2.

He said Clinton’s opponent was someone whom his own party leaders in the past had declared a con artist.

“This choice actually is pretty clear, because the guy that the Republicans nominated—even though a bunch of them knew they shouldn’t nominate him—the guy they nominated who many of the Republicans he is running against said was a con artist and a know-nothing and wasn’t qualified to hold this office,” Obama alleged.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Nov. 3. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Nov. 3. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

“This guy is temperamentally unfit to be Commander in Chief and he is not equipped to be President. This should not be a controversial claim. It really shouldn’t. It’s strange how, over time, what is crazy gets normalized and we just kind of assume, well, you know what, he said a hundred crazy things, so the hundred-and-first thing we just don’t even notice,” he said.

Obama said the U.S. could not afford a President who suggests that America should torture people or that it should ban entire religions from the country.

“We deserve better than a Commander-in-Chief who insults PoWs, or attacks a Gold Star mom, or denigrates our troops.

This is somebody who vilifies minorities, vilifies immigrants, vilifies people of Muslim faith, makes fun of Americans with disabilities,” he said.

“How is that person going to be your voice? Do you want somebody to be your voice who on tape brags about how being famous allows him to get away with sexual assault? Who calls women ‘pigs,’ or ‘dogs,’ or ‘slobs’ and grades them on a scale of one to ten? That is not the voice of America,” Obama asked and the audience responded with a big “NO.”

Obama asserted that there is only one candidate in this race who has devoted her entire life to lifting up that better America—and “that is next President of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

“She’s the right person. She’s the right person at the right time,” Obama said.

(L-r): Recording artist Pharrell Williams, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greet supporters during a campaign rally at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Nov. 3, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(L-r): Recording artist Pharrell Williams, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greet supporters during a campaign rally at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Nov. 3, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Americans becoming Numb to Trump’s Rhetoric Unacceptable: President Obama

“You hear what Trump says, and the problem is that it’s been happening so frequently that we have become numb to it.

We almost act like it’s normal. We almost treat this like some reality TV show,” Obama told his supporters at an election rally in Jacksonville, Florida, Nov. 3, a key battle-ground State.

“You know one of those shows where they have got to bleep out every few sentences because folks are just acting crazy and saying crazy stuff, and being mean, just to manufacture some drama so you can collect more ratings? That is how we are treating this election for the most powerful office on earth, as if it’s normal,” he rued.

“We’ve become numb to it. And it’s not. It’s not. It’s not acceptable. It’s not normal. You can’t make an excuse for it. You can’t pretend it’s not happening,” he said.

“When you talk to some folks who are voting for Trump, they’ll say, well, you know, he doesn’t really mean it, or it s just locker room talk. They try to justify it or excuse it. Or in some cases they say, well, that’s really terrible, but as long as he supports tax cuts for the wealthy, as long as he supports my agenda, I’m going to go ahead and support him anyway,” he noted.

“I want to tell you about this office that I’ve been in, the presidency. I want you to understand. Who you are, what you are—it doesn’t change after you occupy the Oval Office. It magnifies who you are. It shines a spotlight on who you are. Because you have more authority, you can act on who you are,” he said.

“So if you disrespect women before taking office, you’ll disrespect women when you’re in office. If you accept the support of Klan sympathizers before you’re in office, you’ll accept their support while in office.

“If you disrespect the Constitution when you’re running for office, and you threaten to shut down the press if they say something you don’t like, or if you threaten in a presidential debate to throw your opponent in jail, or you discriminate against people of different faiths, then that’s what you’ll do in office,” Obama said.

A group of protestors, comprised mostly of women, rally against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower, Nov. 3, in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A group of protestors, comprised mostly of women, rally against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower, Nov. 3, in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“The reason I want everybody to focus on this is, you know, I’m a proud Democrat. We are not Democrats or Republicans first. We are children of God. We are human beings. We are Americans first. I have good Republican friends who don’t act or think the way Trump does,” he said.

Trump, he said, is somebody who would do damage to the democracy, who is uniquely unqualified and shows no interest in becoming more qualified.

Obama said America has never been about what somebody from on high will do for you.

“It’s not about electing a dictator or an emperor or a king. It s about what we can do together, what’s achieved by us together. It’s about self-government. And Hillary understands that,” he stressed.

“She knows this is a big country, a diverse country. And it doesn’t work if we demonize each other all the time. She knows issues aren’t always black and white, and that progress requires compromise even when you’re right.

“She knows that none of us are perfect, not even Presidents, but we should try to conduct ourselves with a sense of decency and propriety, and big-heartedness. Because our kids are paying attention,” said President Obama.