WASHINGTON — President Obama has opened his final presidential campaign — against Donald Trump.
Though his name won’t be on November’s ballot, Obama is slowly embracing his role as the anti-Trump, using the contrast between himself and the boastful billionaire to paint Trump as anything but presidential.
A Trump victory in the presidential race would mark an overwhelming rebuke to Obama and the likely demise of many of his policies. So with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders still fighting it out in the Democratic primary, it’s fallen increasingly to Obama to take on Trump in ways no other Democrat can.
For months, Obama and his aides mostly avoided getting dragged into the fray or letting the campaign din distract from Obama’s agenda. The White House would sidestep questions about the latest Trump controversies, refusing to turn Obama into a pundit on the race to replace him.
When Obama waded in, it was only to offer implicit rebukes of the Trump phenomenon, such as Obama’s assertion in September that “America is great right now’’ — a not-so-veiled reference to the business mogul’s campaign promise to “make America great again.’’
Now the Trump critique is coming with increasing frequency and ease. Asked Tuesday whether Trump’s proposals were already damaging US relations, Obama answered unequivocally: “Yes.’’
“I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made,’’ Obama said. “They don’t expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can’t afford that.’’
The Democratic National Committee quickly circulated video of Obama’s remarks, arguing they illustrated how Trump “simply doesn’t have the temperament necessary to be commander in chief.’’
Yet by calling attention to Trump’s positions, the White House risks further elevating him, while giving Obama’s critics a fresh reason to get behind the billionaire businessman.
Obama has said repeatedly he doesn’t believe Trump will win, and White House officials said there was no concerted effort to insert Obama more visibly into the election debate. After all, every minute Obama spends talking about Trump is a minute wasted when it comes to Obama’s many unfinished pieces of business.
Still, the president in recent days has rarely passed up a chance for a Trump takedown — especially on foreign policy, where Obama’s status as commander in chief gives him a unique perch to besmirch Trump’s approach. Closing out a nuclear security summit last week, Obama said Trump’s suggestion that South Korea and Japan develop nuclear weapons “tell us that the person who made the statements doesn’t know much about foreign policy, or nuclear policy, or the Korean Peninsula.’’
“Or the world generally,’’ Obama added wryly.
And in his latest rebuke, Obama unloaded on Trump’s proposal to compel Mexico to pay for a border wall by threatening to cut off remittances that Mexican immigrants in the United States send back home. Asked about that idea, Obama issued a point-by-point rebuttal, arguing that would actually increase the flow of immigrants into the United States and that tracking huge numbers of remittances was impossible.
“Good luck with that,’’ Obama said.
Obama’s public scolding of Trump, who for years peddled inaccurate claims about Obama’s birth certificate, dates back to 2011, when Obama roasted him at the glitzy White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Trump was visibly humiliated as Obama lobbed joke after joke at him on national television.
Trump, meanwhile, held a massive rally in New York Wednesday evening, shrugging off a defeat in Wisconsin a day earlier and predicting victory in his delegate-rich home state.
“I love these people. These are my people,’’ he said to thunderous cheers.
Dozens of police officers amassed outside the soundstage venue on Long Island as protesters chanted “your hats are made in China’’ and “dump Trump.’’
Trump supporters retaliated, declaring “socialism sucks!’’ and “leave this country!’’
The rally comes as the GOP front-runner signaled a shift toward “more meat on the bone’’ in his policy speeches amid new signs of campaign discord after his stinging Wisconsin loss to rival Ted Cruz emboldened his critics and pushed the GOP closer to its first contested national convention in four decades.
Both parties shifted toward New York’s April 19 primary elections, where Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump hold big leads in early polls.
Clinton embraced a tougher approach with liberal rival Bernie Sanders on Wednesday after her defeat in Wisconsin. Still, Sanders’ string of recent primary victories has done little to erode the former New York senator’s delegate lead in the 2016 primary season.
“The core issue in his whole campaign doesn’t seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law or the practical ways you get something done,’’ Clinton declared in an interview on MSNBC. She suggested Sanders “hadn’t done his homework’’ on specific prescriptions needed to address economic inequality.
