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| Obama, at Convention, to Lay Out Stakes for a Divided Nation | Obama, at Convention, to Lay Out Stakes for a Divided Nation |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| PHILADELPHIA — This is not about me, President Obama kept telling his closest advisers in recent weeks as he labored over one of the last major addresses of his presidency. | PHILADELPHIA — This is not about me, President Obama kept telling his closest advisers in recent weeks as he labored over one of the last major addresses of his presidency. |
| But he could not avoid the subject. And as he takes the stage here Wednesday night to rally Democrats around Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obama will revisit his own promise to guide the nation into an era of reconciliation and unity, harking back to the themes that propelled his improbable rise but that seem even more out of reach today. | But he could not avoid the subject. And as he takes the stage here Wednesday night to rally Democrats around Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obama will revisit his own promise to guide the nation into an era of reconciliation and unity, harking back to the themes that propelled his improbable rise but that seem even more out of reach today. |
| “We get frustrated with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions; are shocked and saddened by the madness of Orlando or Nice,” Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts from his remarks released by the White House. But he will add that “what I’ve also seen, more than anything, is what is right with America.” | “We get frustrated with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions; are shocked and saddened by the madness of Orlando or Nice,” Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts from his remarks released by the White House. But he will add that “what I’ve also seen, more than anything, is what is right with America.” |
| It was Mr. Obama’s lyrical rejection of “a politics of cynicism” exactly 12 years ago to the night, as the keynote speaker of the 2004 Democratic convention, that dazzled a national audience and thrust him into the spotlight, setting him on his path to two terms in the Oval Office. | It was Mr. Obama’s lyrical rejection of “a politics of cynicism” exactly 12 years ago to the night, as the keynote speaker of the 2004 Democratic convention, that dazzled a national audience and thrust him into the spotlight, setting him on his path to two terms in the Oval Office. |
| Now, the challenge for Mr. Obama as he shifts gears for the final months of his presidency is to find a way to acknowledge that the political divides he promised to bridge have only gotten deeper and bitterer — while arguing persuasively that the way to rise above them is to elect Mrs. Clinton and reject Donald J. Trump. | Now, the challenge for Mr. Obama as he shifts gears for the final months of his presidency is to find a way to acknowledge that the political divides he promised to bridge have only gotten deeper and bitterer — while arguing persuasively that the way to rise above them is to elect Mrs. Clinton and reject Donald J. Trump. |
| The president will leave it mostly to others to praise his record and defend his decisions on Wednesday, speaking after an adulatory eight-minute video featuring Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Michelle Obama and close advisers talking about the challenges Mr. Obama has faced and all that he has achieved. | The president will leave it mostly to others to praise his record and defend his decisions on Wednesday, speaking after an adulatory eight-minute video featuring Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Michelle Obama and close advisers talking about the challenges Mr. Obama has faced and all that he has achieved. |
| Mr. Obama will mention Mr. Trump only a handful of times, aides said, although he will argue emphatically that the Republican nominee plays on Americans’ fears rather than offering them solutions to their problems. | Mr. Obama will mention Mr. Trump only a handful of times, aides said, although he will argue emphatically that the Republican nominee plays on Americans’ fears rather than offering them solutions to their problems. |
| The president will devote most of his speech to Mrs. Clinton, offering himself up as a powerful validator of her qualifications for the presidency and of her moral authority. | The president will devote most of his speech to Mrs. Clinton, offering himself up as a powerful validator of her qualifications for the presidency and of her moral authority. |
| “Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis or send young people to war. But Hillary’s been in the room; she’s been part of those decisions,” he will say, according to the released excerpts. “Even in the middle of crisis, she listens to people, and keeps her cool, and treats everybody with respect.” | “Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis or send young people to war. But Hillary’s been in the room; she’s been part of those decisions,” he will say, according to the released excerpts. “Even in the middle of crisis, she listens to people, and keeps her cool, and treats everybody with respect.” |
| The president will leave no doubt of his commitment to helping Mrs. Clinton succeed him, saying that “there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton” to serve as president. | The president will leave no doubt of his commitment to helping Mrs. Clinton succeed him, saying that “there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton” to serve as president. |
| In doing so, he will also be making a vigorous argument for his vision of the country, in both its soaring possibilities and the messier realities, and asking Americans to embrace their differences and work for change. | In doing so, he will also be making a vigorous argument for his vision of the country, in both its soaring possibilities and the messier realities, and asking Americans to embrace their differences and work for change. |
| Implicit in Mr. Obama’s political rise was the idea that if he became president he would help Americans rise above the partisan and racial divisions that cleaved the nation. It was never just about him, his aides argue; rather, it was Mr. Obama’s ability to give voice to such widely shared aspirations that rallied voters behind him. | Implicit in Mr. Obama’s political rise was the idea that if he became president he would help Americans rise above the partisan and racial divisions that cleaved the nation. It was never just about him, his aides argue; rather, it was Mr. Obama’s ability to give voice to such widely shared aspirations that rallied voters behind him. |
| In his 2004 convention speech, a testimonial to John Kerry, the Democratic nominee that year, Mr. Obama decried the “spin masters and negative-ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes,” and he foreshadowed the political theme that would ultimately carry him into the White House by urging “a politics of hope.” | In his 2004 convention speech, a testimonial to John Kerry, the Democratic nominee that year, Mr. Obama decried the “spin masters and negative-ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes,” and he foreshadowed the political theme that would ultimately carry him into the White House by urging “a politics of hope.” |
| Then as now, Mr. Obama was vouching for someone else, but what many Americans actually heard was a compelling argument for his own leadership. | Then as now, Mr. Obama was vouching for someone else, but what many Americans actually heard was a compelling argument for his own leadership. |
| In January, in his final State of the Union address, he conceded he had fallen short. And a few weeks later, on the steps of the Illinois statehouse, where he had first become a candidate for president, Mr. Obama expressed a deep regret for “my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics.” It was, he said, one of the bitterest failures of his presidency. | In January, in his final State of the Union address, he conceded he had fallen short. And a few weeks later, on the steps of the Illinois statehouse, where he had first become a candidate for president, Mr. Obama expressed a deep regret for “my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics.” It was, he said, one of the bitterest failures of his presidency. |
| It is also one of the reasons Mr. Obama routinely cites to strongly oppose Mr. Trump’s candidacy. In the president’s view, Mr. Trump would dramatically worsen, not improve, what Mr. Obama said in Springfield was a “poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life.” | It is also one of the reasons Mr. Obama routinely cites to strongly oppose Mr. Trump’s candidacy. In the president’s view, Mr. Trump would dramatically worsen, not improve, what Mr. Obama said in Springfield was a “poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life.” |
| On Wednesday night, aides said, the president will assail Mr. Trump as a nasty and divisive candidate who would govern from the White House by dividing the country into the very kinds of opposing camps that Mr. Obama argued in 2004 were unhealthy and wrong. | On Wednesday night, aides said, the president will assail Mr. Trump as a nasty and divisive candidate who would govern from the White House by dividing the country into the very kinds of opposing camps that Mr. Obama argued in 2004 were unhealthy and wrong. |
| Mr. Obama, whose approval ratings have risen above 50 percent, is loath to be seen as taking a victory lap, as departing two-term presidents before him have done at their conventions. Top advisers said on Wednesday that he had rejected the idea of a valedictory address in the style of Ronald Reagan in 1988 or Bill Clinton in 2000. | Mr. Obama, whose approval ratings have risen above 50 percent, is loath to be seen as taking a victory lap, as departing two-term presidents before him have done at their conventions. Top advisers said on Wednesday that he had rejected the idea of a valedictory address in the style of Ronald Reagan in 1988 or Bill Clinton in 2000. |
| Mr. Obama is also keenly aware, however, that reminding voters why they gravitated to him in the first place may be the most powerful way to boost Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy – and with it, his own chance of achieving a lasting legacy. | Mr. Obama is also keenly aware, however, that reminding voters why they gravitated to him in the first place may be the most powerful way to boost Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy – and with it, his own chance of achieving a lasting legacy. |
| Hours before Mr. Obama was to speak at the convention on Wednesday, word emerged that he would build his presidential library in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, the latest reminder that he is preparing his exit and that Mrs. Clinton is, in the words of a senior adviser, “the torchbearer” of his legacy. | Hours before Mr. Obama was to speak at the convention on Wednesday, word emerged that he would build his presidential library in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, the latest reminder that he is preparing his exit and that Mrs. Clinton is, in the words of a senior adviser, “the torchbearer” of his legacy. |
| In a joint campaign appearance in North Carolina this month, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton sought to connect the president’s accomplishments to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign promises in a way that both honors the past and promises more of the same. | In a joint campaign appearance in North Carolina this month, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton sought to connect the president’s accomplishments to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign promises in a way that both honors the past and promises more of the same. |
| During that appearance, Mr. Obama went out of his way to dwell on Mrs. Clinton’s personal qualities, describing the “grace and the energy” with which she campaigned for him in 2008, and “her savvy and her skill” in conducting foreign policy in the White House. | |
| But he also touched on the same themes that he will address Wednesday night. He warned Americans against choosing in Mr. Trump’s candidacy a “path that divides us with harsh rhetoric,” and said that Mrs. Clinton knew well that “a bunch of phony bluster doesn’t keep us safe.” | But he also touched on the same themes that he will address Wednesday night. He warned Americans against choosing in Mr. Trump’s candidacy a “path that divides us with harsh rhetoric,” and said that Mrs. Clinton knew well that “a bunch of phony bluster doesn’t keep us safe.” |