
Support Kamala Harris for President!
Philadelphia, US, Oct 28 (EFE).-
Former US president Barack Obama, Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen and singer John Legend joined voices on Monday in Philadelphia to support Kamala Harris and warn of what another Donald Trump term represents for the values of the American working class.
The event had a festival feel, not only because of its stars, but also because of the enthusiasm of the public, which almost filled the 10,000 seats of the Liacouras Center at Temple University.

The energy was palpable, with the public waving banners for ‘Harris-Walz’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Vote’ in the blue color of the Democratic Party, while a wave of applause rumbled the stadium when Obama appeared.
Obama referred to racist and xenophobic comments that resonated the previous night at a Trump campaign event at Madison Square Garden in New York, where a comedian referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
The public reacted with indignation when Obama recalled those words. Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia is located, is home to a million Latinos, of which more than half are of Puerto Rican origin, so the rhetoric could have cost Trump votes in this final stretch of the campaign.

“Here’s a good rule,” Obama said. “If somebody does not respect you, if somebody does not see you as fellow citizens with equal claims to opportunity, to the pursuit of happiness, to the American dream, you should not vote for them.”
The former president accused Trump of wanting to divide the United States and foment hatred just to increase his chances of winning, and contrasted him with Harris, whom he pointed to as a figure who wants to unite the country.
“America is ready to turn the page. America is ready for a better story. Philadelphia, we are ready for a president Kamala Harris!” Obama said, with the fervent support of the audience, a diverse public in ages and races, among which stood out a strong core of Springsteen fans.

Among the attendees was Marie Benson, 67, who confessed to having gone to more than 100 Springsteen concerts throughout her life.
“He has always sung for the working class, putting himself in the place of those who work hard and feeling their pain,” she excitedly told EFE.
Springsteen opened with “The Promised Land,” a song about the pursuit of the American dream and the fight for a better life, and played “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “Dancing in the Dark,” which the audience sang along with.
Letting the music speak for itself, Springsteen dedicated only a few brief words to the election, warning that “Trump is running to be an American tyrant.”
“This election is about a group of folks who want to fundamentally undermine an American way of life. Donald Trump doesn’t understand this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American,” he said.

Before him, John Legend, who serenaded the audience with “All of Me,” gave a powerful speech in which he urged the US to defend the freedoms for which previous generations fought and to choose “better, bolder, brighter, to choose progress, and healing, and joy” instead of division, in clear allusion to Trump.
“Trump had four years. We saw what he did with those four years,” recalled Legend, who stated that, during the challenge that the US faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump showed that he was “unprepared,” “incompetent” and “woefully unserious.”
Sitting in the front row, Cate Horn, 18 years old and who will vote for the first time, said she was nervous about the possibility that Harris won’t win, but seeing Legend gave her hope and she that he influenced those who remain undecided.
Democrats, backed by increased funding and the support of numerous stars, are using all their artillery to tip the balance in this final stretch, in which polls show Harris and Trump almost tied in key states that will decide the election, including Pennsylvania.
With more than 43 million Americans already casting their ballot in person or by mail in early voting, each could be decisive. EFE
bpm/tw