ByGrace Panetta, Candice Norwood/Originally published by The 19th
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CHICAGO — Former First Lady Michelle Obama called Vice President Kamala Harris “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency” and went after former President Donald Trump in a speech met with an enthusiastic reaction at the Democratic National Convention.
On Tuesday, Obama took the stage in her hometown to remind voters of a feeling they had during her husband’s campaign for president.
“America, hope is making a comeback,” Obama told the cheering crowd.
Obama is experienced at pitching historic candidates to the American public. She’s spoken at every DNC since former President Barack Obama’s first nomination in 2008. Eight years later, when Hillary Clinton made history as the first woman to win a major party nomination, Michelle Obama famously said, “When they go low, we go high” — a statement that set the tone for how top Democrats approached the Trump era. That was a different time, and the party’s attitudes toward former President Donald Trump have become less diplomatic.
This year, Michelle Obama echoed the need to rise above “going small,” but made pointed jabs at Trump that matched the party’s bolder approach toward the former president, who repeatedly criticized and attacked her and her husband. She said Trump’s “same old con” is “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas.”
Obama drew a comparison between the treatment she and Barack Obama experienced with the potential vitriol Harris may be exposed to in her position.
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” she said, seemingly referring to Trump’s past criticism of the couple, including repeating an unfounded and racist conspiracy theory questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?” she added. The reference to a comment Trump made in the June 27 debate drew explosive applause from the crowd.
In the wake of that debate, in which President Joe Biden delivered a dismal performance, an Ipsos poll showed Michelle Obama as the only Democrat who would beat Trump in a hypothetical matchup — by an 11-point margin. But Michelle Obama has never indicated an interest in running for office, and Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris energized anxious Democrats — and positioned Harris to again make history, as the Obamas did in 2008.
“Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment,” Obama said on the DNC stage. “She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And she is one of the most dignified — a tribute to her mother, to my mother and probably to your mother too. The embodiment of the stories we tell ourselves about this country. Her story is your story, it’s my story. It’s the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life.”
Obama and Harris are united by values passed down from their mothers, Obama said. In her speech, Obama said she was compelled to speak in support of Harris to honor her mother, Marian Robinson, who died in May. Obama said her convention appearance was the first time she’d returned to Chicago since her mother’s memorial.
“Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country,” she said. “That’s why her mother moved here from India at 19. It’s why she taught Kamala about justice. About our obligation to lift others up. About our responsibility to give more than we take.”
Obama called on Democrats to “do something” to put all their efforts behind electing Harris, eliciting a call-and-response from the crowd.
“If they lie about her — and they will — we’ve got to do something! If we see a bad poll — and we will — we’ve got to put down that phone and do something! If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our faces and do something!” she said.
“Consider this to be your official ask: Michelle Obama is asking you to do something,” she said, recognizing her influence within the party.
Obama’s words were a strong endorsement from a woman who has remained one of the country’s most popular Democrats, but has largely stayed out of politics since leaving office aside from a few key moments. In 2018, she joined every other former living first lady in condemning Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents.
She has also published a bestselling memoir, “Becoming,” in 2018 followed by another nonfiction book, “The Light We Carry,” in 2022. She has also promoted voter registration through When We All Vote, the nonpartisan voter engagement initiative she runs.
For many Democrats, the outpouring of enthusiasm and momentum behind Harris’ month-old campaign reminds them of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 run, when he united the party and mobilized young voters in particular behind a message of “hope and change.”
“The energy that I’m feeling right now is the same energy that I felt in ‘08 when Obama first came on the scene,” Don Scott, minority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates, said Monday.
Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire said the makeshift Harris merch, which includes references to pop culture and memes, reminded her of the 2008 and 2012 conventions.
“You can just tell by what people are wearing in the elevator, all the buttons, the signs and the T-shirts — people are really, really excited,” she said Tuesday.
The former first lady also hinted at parallels between Harris’ historic campaign and her husband’s 16 years ago. She introduced her husband, the night’s keynote speaker, as “somebody who knows a whole lot about hope.”
She said her hope had dimmed in recent years: a combination of dread about the future of the country and her personal grief over the loss of her mother. Through Harris’ campaign she and American voters can embrace a “renewed sense of hope,” she said, but emphasized the need for urgency, saying, “Folks, we cannot be our own worst enemies.”
“In 77 days, we have the power to turn our country away from the fear, division and smallness of the past,” she said. “We have the power to marry our hope with action. We have the power to pay forward the love, sweat and sacrifice of our mothers and fathers and all those who came before us.”
