CHICAGO — As he did in his first speech at the Democratic National Convention 20 years ago, former President Barack Obama emphasized the bonds that unite Americans and called for a more positive atmosphere in the country during the second night of this year’s convention Tuesday, while also mobilizing Democrats to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.
At the United Center during a convention in their hometown, Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who spoke directly to the former president, referenced his 2008 and 2012 campaigns for the White House, in which he won by supporting Harris.
“America, hope is back,” Michelle Obama said, echoing her husband’s 2008 campaign theme and connecting it with Harris.
The energy among Democrats since Harris became the presidential candidate a month ago could be described as “an infectious power of hope,” she said.
The pair also criticized former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate, portraying him as a divisive figure and urging voters to reject him in favor of a more inclusive nation.
“Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided between us and them,” Obama said. “Between real Americans who obviously support him and those outside who don’t.”
He called on Americans to reject that point of view.
Republicans also tried to link Harris to Obama in their response.
“Democrats want to bring back memories of 2008,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a written statement. “But this is not Barack Obama’s Democratic Party — Kamala Harris’ is even more dangerously liberal.”
Michelle Obama’s Change of Tone
Michelle Obama, in a marked shift from her convention speeches eight and four years ago when she urged Democrats to act morally in response to Trump’s attacks, took a much more confrontational tone toward the Republican nominee on Tuesday night.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s looking for right now might be one of those black jobs?” she said, referring to Trump’s comment about immigrants taking “black jobs.”
Harris would be the second black president, after Obama.
Earlier, in a veiled criticism of Trump, the former first lady compared him to Harris.
Harris “understands that most of us will never have the grace to fail and move forward,” she said. “Who will never benefit from the positive effects of generational wealth. If we go bankrupt or suffocate in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance.”
Some Republicans have called Harris, a Black and South Asian woman, a “DEI hire,” suggesting her race and gender were more critical than her career and character qualifications. Trump inherited the estate from his father, who was also a real estate developer.
Trump oversaw bankrupt companies before entering politics. And Democrats said he screwed up the COVID-19 response.
Barack Obama also attacked Trump, calling him a “78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped complaining about his problems since he stepped off his golden escalator” when announcing his presidential run in 2016.
An alternative to Trump
Both Obamas said Harris provides a forceful alternative to Trump.
Barack Obama said she was not born into a privileged family like Trump, and has empathy he lacks.
“In other words, Kamala Harris won’t focus on her problems,” he said. “She’ll focus on yours.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ vice presidential candidate, also provided a counterweight to Trump, Obama said, adding that he loved Walz’s legitimate Midwestern personality.
Both Obamas urged Democrats to work strenuous on Harris’ case in the 11 weeks leading up to Election Day.
Michelle Obama made the words “do something” a refrain in her speech.
“You know what we have to do,” the former first lady said. “Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling you — to do something. This is going to be a close election. In some states, just a handful of votes in each district could decide the winner.”
A tribute to Biden
Barack Obama devoted the first part of his roughly half-hour speech to paying tribute to his vice president, President Joe Biden.
Biden helped the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and led a forceful economic recovery while lowering health care costs, Obama said.
He added that Biden deserves credit for sacrificing his political ambitions and withdrawing from the re-election race.
“At a time when the other party had become a cult of personality, we needed a leader who was stable, who could unite people and who was selfless enough to do that rarest thing in politics: put aside his own ambitions for the good of the country,” Obama said. “History will remember Joe Biden as a president who defended democracy in a time of great peril.”
He nodded as the crowd chanted, “Thank you, Joe.”
Appeal to unity
Both Obamas repeated slogans from the campaigns in which their names appeared on the ballot, as well as from the presidential campaign, seeking to link their historic election victory to Harris’ campaign.
“When it comes to health care, we should all be proud of the progress we’ve made with the Affordable Care Act,” Obama said, referring to the landmark health care law he championed in his first term. “I noticed, by the way, that since it became popular, they don’t call it Obamacare anymore.”
Harris “knows we can’t stop here,” he continued, “and he intends to work to lower drug costs.”
He also urged Americans to focus on common bonds.
“The bonds that bind us are still there,” he said. “We still coach Little League and care for our elderly neighbors. We still feed the hungry in churches, mosques, synagogues and temples.”
In his opening speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama also invoked Little League to emphasize national unity.
“The vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that is so bitter and divided,” he said Tuesday. “We want something better. We want to be better.”
He added that the enthusiasm Harris’ campaign met showed it was a popular idea.
At the end of his speech, he invoked the name of the first president nominated at the Chicago convention, elected during the greatest period of division in American history – Abraham Lincoln.
“As much as any policy or program, I believe that this is what we want: a return to an America where we work together and take care of each other, a restoration of what Lincoln called on the eve of the Civil War ‘our bonds of affection,’ where America draws on what he called ‘the better angels of our nature,’” he said. “That is what this election is all about.”
