US President Barack Obama has praised Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her intellect, fortitude and "unerring" judgment and blasted "the other guy",' Republican Donald Trump, as unqualified to be president and uninterested in learning enough to make the hard decisions the job requires.
Obama addressed a dinner crowd of about 65 people at a fundraiser in Gramercy Park.
"This is somebody who is smart, who is tough and, most importantly, cares deeply about making sure that this country works for everybody and not just a few,'' Obama said of Clinton.
"And she's displayed it again and again and again. And when I said that I think she is somebody who is as qualified as any individual who has ever run for this office, I meant it."
Obama said Clinton has been disciplined and extraordinarily effective in every job she's held.
"And then there's the other guy,'' he said, drawing laughter.
"You all know him because he's from New York. Some of you may have done business with him. If you have, it doesn't sound like it's been a pleasant experience.''
Obama went on to criticise Trump.
"He shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis. There's no curiosity, no desire to get up to speed.''
Obama said the November election shouldn't be close but predicted "it will be".
Clinton has lost ground to Trump in some state and national polls in recent weeks and is looking to their first one-on-one debate a week from Monday to swing some momentum behind her.
