President Barack Obama has
admitted for the first time that
Donald Trump could succeed him
and advised Hillary Clinton to "run
scared" as she prepared to become the
first female nominee of a major US
political party.
Mr Obama had previously maintained
Mr Trump would never reach the
White House but, as the billionaire led
in polls, he said it was now "possible"
the Republican nominee may win.
The warning came as Mrs Clinton was
due to make history at the Democratic
Party convention in Philadelphia on
Thursday night.
She planned to use her acceptance
speech, the biggest of her life so far, to
put gender at the centre of her
campaign, framing the election as a
chance to punch the "final crack in the
highest glass ceiling".
But Mr Obama said: "It is the nature
of democracy that until the votes are
cast, and the American people have
their say, we don't know [who will
win]. I have seen all kinds of crazy
stuff happen and I think everybody
that goes into campaigns not running
scared can end up losing."
Mr Obama, who was due to address
the convention on Wednesday night,
went on to attack Mr Trump for
having a lack of "basic knowledge
about the world," including not
understanding what a nuclear triad
was, or the difference between Sunni
and Shia.
He added: "What I think is scary is a
president who doesn't know their stuff
and doesn't seem to have an interest
in learning what they don't know."
The issue of gender had been largely
absent from the Democratic primary
campaign as Mrs Clinton struggled to
connect with young female voters,
many of whom sided with her left-
wing rival Bernie Sanders.
But her advisers said she would now
seek to make stark contrasts between
herself and Mr Trump, hammering
home to voters sexist comments her
rival had made.
In a message to supporters ahead of
her speech Mrs Clinton said: "If there
are any little girls out there staying up
late to watch, I may become the first
woman president but one of you is
next."
Delegates on the convention floor
were shown video of Amelia Earhart,
the first woman to fly solo across the
Atlantic.
Meryl Streep, the Oscar-winning
actress, took to the stage and punched
her fists in the air.
She said: "What does it take to be the
first female anything? It takes grit and
it takes grace."
Campaign insiders said the former
first lady also planned to use her
speech, watched by tens of millions on
television, to "reintroduce" herself to
the nation.
In a recent poll 68 per cent of
Americans regarded her as
"dishonest," more than distrusted Mr
Trump, while more than half the
country said they viewed Mrs Clinton
"unfavourably".
Her advisers admit she can appear
scripted and stiff in front of crowds,
struggling to show emotion publicly.
Jennifer Palmieri, her
communications director, said: "She
knows that she has work to do to earn
people's trust."
The effort to rebrand her image
included an emotional convention
speech by her husband, former
president Bill Clinton, in which he
gave a wistful, and sanitised, account
of their marriage.
Mr Clinton dismissed the "Crooked
Hillary" label used by Republicans as
a "cartoon" caricature and described
his wife as a champion of families and
children.
But even some Democrats dismissed
the attempt to recast Mrs Clinton's
image.
Liz Maratea from New Jersey, a
Democrat at the convention hall, said:
"Why can't we have somebody in the
White House that doesn't need to be
shined up? Nothing needs to be
repackaged about Bernie Sanders."
John Feehery, a Republican strategist,
said it was too late to rehabilitate Mrs
Clinton in the eyes of the American
public.
He said: "You only get one decade to
make a first impression."
Source- telegraph.cos.uk
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