America ‘needs an adult’ in White House: Michelle Obama

US First Lady Michelle Obama took a dig at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying America “needs an adult in the White House” and not a person who is “erratic and threatening”.

“When making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a President just cannot pop off or lash out irrationally. No, we need an adult in the White House, I guarantee you,” she said at an election rally in support of Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia as she made a strong pitch for the 68-year-old Democratic presidential candidate.

Michelle, without mentioning Trump, 70, said the US needs someone who is compassionate. “Someone who will be a role model for our kids. Someone who is not just in this for themselves but for the good of this entire country - all of us. At the end of the day, the presidency does not change who you are, it reveals who you are and the same is true of a presidential campaign,” she said.

US presidential campaigns, Michelle said, are very long – nearly two-and-a-half years, or half of one presidential term.

“So if a candidate is erratic and threatening; if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears and lies on the campaign trail; if a candidate thinks that not paying taxes makes you smart, or that it is good business when people lose their homes; if a candidate regularly and flippantly makes cruel and insulting comments about women, about how we look, how we act – well, sadly, that is who that candidate really is. That is the kind of president they will be,” she said.

Michelle said a candidate is not going to suddenly change once they are in office – just the opposite, in fact.