Nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president: Obama

US President Barack Obama addresses Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo: AFP/SAUL LOEB)

In his primetime speech to Democrats gathered in Philadelphia, Obama said there has "Never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to be president."

"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," he will say. "But Hillary's been in the room; she's been part of those decisions."

The President said during the time when Clinton was his Secretary of State, he had a "front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment, and her discipline."

Obama opened his speech by recalling his first time speaking at the Democratic National Convention.

"I was so young that first time in Boston. Maybe a little nervous addressing such a big crowd. But I was filled with faith; faith in America – the generous, bighearted, hopeful country that made my story, indeed, all of our stories possible," Obama said.

Obama offered an alternative to businessman Donald Trump's vision of the United States as being under siege from illegal immigrants and terrorism and losing its way in the world.

"I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before," Obama told cheering delegates at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Democratic president laid out what he said were a series of advances during his two terms in office, such as recovery from economic recession, the Obamacare healthcare reform and the 2011 killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Nodding to voters' concerns, Obama said he understood frustrations "with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions" and the slow pace of economic growth.

"There are pockets of America that never recovered from factory closures; men who took pride in hard work and providing for their families who now feel forgotten," Obama said.

Clinton made history on Tuesday when she became the first woman to secure the presidential nomination from a major party. When she formally accepts it on Thursday, she will become the Democratic standard-bearer against Republican nominee Trump in the Nov. 8 election.

At the convention on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination.

Obama and Clinton were rivals in the hard-fought campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination. After winning that election, he appointed her his secretary of state.

Democrats have buttressed Clinton with a star gathering of current and past party notables at this week's convention. By contrast, many prominent Republicans were absent from the party convention that nominated Trump for the White House last week.

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