Race for the White House: Barack Obama asks Americans to choose hope over fear

In his last minute appeal, the outgoing President Barack Obama has urged the citizens to vote for a better America.

Fayetteville (US), Nov 5: Slamming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his divisive politics and rhetoric, outgoing US President Barack Obama has urged American voters to choose "hope" over fear in the November 8 general elections.

"I need you to vote! Don't choose fear, choose hope! Don't choose fear, choose hope! Don't choose fear, choose hope! Go out there and vote. And if you do, we'll remind the entire world why America is the greatest nation on Earth," Obama told thousands of his supporters in this garrison city in North Carolina yesterday.

North Carolina is considered as one of the key battleground State, as the race to the White House has tightened in the last few weeks.

Both the campaigns, more so for Trump, now believe that winning this State is key to winning presidency.

"Understand the stakes," Obama, 55, said in another stump speech, in Fayetteville, which once had a thriving slave market, signs of which are still present in the city's historic downtown.

"Right now, you can reject the mean-spirited politics that would take us backwards. Right now, you can elect a leader who has spent her entire life trying to move this country forward - our first female President. An example 'A' for our daughters and our sons," Obama said amidst huge applause from thousands of his supporters.

This week Obama has held as many as three rallies in North Carolina including two yesterday in Fayetteville and Charlotte.

"You have a chance to shape history. Don't let that slip away. Don't fall for the easy cynicism that tells you politics doesn't matter, my vote doesn't matter, they're all crooked, it's all the same. That's what those who have been opposed to me and now oppose Hillary - they want you to think that way so you don't vote," he said.

"If you believe we're stronger together, then we can't elect a President who vilifies minorities, mocks Americans with disabilities, calls immigrants criminals and rapists," he said.

"We can't elect a President who brags that being famous allows him to get away with something that, if you read the description, qualified as sexual assault; who calls women 'pigs', 'dogs' and 'slobs' and grades them on a scale of one to 10. That's not America. This is not a Democrat or a Republican. That's not America," he said.

Obama said if Americans cherished the Constitution, they cannot elect a President who threatens to shut down the press when they say something he doesn't like; who threatens to throw his opponents in jail; who discriminates against people of different faiths.

"Our Constitution does not allow that. There are places around the world that's acceptable, but that's not the United States of America," he said.

"If you believe that America is stronger when everybody does their part, if you believe that America is stronger when everyone pays their fair share, then we can't elect the first candidate in decades who refuses to release any tax returns; admits he has not paid federal income tax in years; somebody who stiffs small business people who do work for him or workers who've done work for him and he owes them," he said.

PTI