Obamas give full-throated endorsement of Harris, slam Trump in DNC speeches
Jenna Benchetrit | CBC News | Posted: August 20, 2024 8:50 PM | Last Updated: August 22
Former U.S. president also seemed eager to quell speculation of bad blood with Biden
Former U.S. president Barack Obama gave an emphatic endorsement of Kamala Harris while slamming his successor, Donald Trump, during a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday evening.
During the address, Obama depicted Harris as a tough prosecutor and hard-working politician, a champion of working and underprivileged people, while painting Trump as a childish, power-driven chaos mongerer who wedged the country apart to enrich his own interests.
Obama also stressed his longtime friendship with President Joe Biden, who served as his vice-president for eight years, weeks after Obama allegedly played a pivotal role in Biden's exit from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris as the nominee.
Taking the stage to a roar from the crowd (though one not nearly as ferocious as the reception for his wife, Michelle, 20 minutes earlier), Obama made reference to a speech he delivered at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the 16 minutes that propelled his rise to political stardom.
"I'm feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible," he said.
"We have the chance to elect someone who's spent her whole life trying to give people the same chances America gave her. Someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you. The next president of the United States of America, Kamala Harris."
Referring to his choice of his former Senate colleague Joe Biden to serve as his vice-president, Obama said, "my first big decision as your nominee turned out to be my best," — echoing a line that Biden delivered about Harris on Monday night during a convention speech.
Amid media speculation that there was lingering bad blood between the two, Obama stressed Biden's record on COVID-19 recovery and the economy, and as a defender of democracy.
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But he also referred several times to their close personal relationship: "I am proud to call him my president, but even prouder to call him my friend," Obama said.
Neither Biden, who is on vacation in California, nor Harris, who led a rally in Milwaukee earlier in the day, were present for the speech.
'The sequel is usually worse,' Obama says of Trump
The former president then turned his attention to Trump, whom he described as a "78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago."
"It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances," Obama said.
He mixed strong criticism of Trump's record on taxes, immigration and reproductive rights with lighthearted jabs that played well with an audience of Democrats.
WATCH | Obama disses Trump during DNC speech:
He earned thunderous applause and laughter when he referenced Trump's "weird obsession with crowd sizes" while subtly gesturing with his hands, suggesting that obsession was really about Trump's insecurity about his manhood.
"We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos," he told the crowd. "We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse."
He said Harris would be a president who focuses on voters' problems, not her own. "As president, she won't just cater to her own voters and punish those who refuse to bend the knee. She'll work on behalf of every American."
He positioned a Harris-Walz administration as a "new chapter" and drew subtle parallels between Harris's candidacy and his own.
U.S. media has compared the fervour and excitement around Harris to the frenzy that propelled Obama to the presidency in 2008 and then to re-election in 2012.
In the most stark callback to his own campaign, Obama quipped, "yes, she can," which the audience chanted back at him — and he revisited the message of hope that permeated his first campaign.
"We'll elect leaders up and down the ballot who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we believe in. And together, we too will build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal and more free," he said.
And he wasn't the only one: during a similar moment in Michelle Obama's speech, the former first lady informed the audience that "hope is making a comeback" and talked about "the contagious power of hope."
Michelle Obama takes digs at Trump's privilege
Michelle Obama also got several rounds of thunderous applause when contrasting Harris's upbringing with Trump's and taking thinly veiled digs at his privilege.
"She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward," she said of Harris. "We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. We don't get to change the rules so we always win."
She turned some of Trump's insults against Harris on their head, referring to "the steel of her spine, the steadiness of her upbringing and, yes, the joy of her laughter and her light."
Later, Michelle earned some laughs by taking digs at some iconic Trump moments, such as the infamous escalator ride in Trump Tower on New York's Fifth Avenue that preceded his 2015 announcement of his first presidential run.
"If we see a mountain ahead of us, we don't expect there to be an escalator to the top," she said. "In America, we do something."
She also called back to Trump's confused reference to "Black jobs" in his June debate with Biden.
"Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?" she quipped.
Ultimately, Michelle Obama returned to highlighting Harris's superior experience and commitment to public service.
"It couldn't be more obvious, of the two major candidates in this race, only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labour and unwavering commitment that has always made America great."
WATCH | Michelle Obama needles Trump with talk of 'failing forward':
Call for unity
The former president positioned Harris and Walz as envoys of that message, and ran through Harris's record as a prosecutor and her tenure as California attorney general, speaking of how she pressed Obama's administration to provide mortgage relief to homeowners.
He made the case for Harris as a champion of young and working people who would make it easier to own a home, limit drug costs, and make college education more accessible.
But he also called for unity and criticized political polarization — referencing the discord within his own party, even during a moment where Democrats have mostly fallen in line for Harris.
"Our politics has become so polarized these days that all of us, across the political spectrum, seem quick to assume the worst in others unless they agree with us on every single issue," he said.
As an elder statesman of the Democratic Party, aides say Obama still wields enormous influence over party politics while maintaining popularity and cultural cachet with voters.
But his record was frequently cited as a mark on Biden during the 2020 presidential election, with candidates criticizing the Obama-Biden administration's record on trade, immigration and health care during a blistering primary debate.
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Before Obama took the stage Tuesday night in Chicago, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a rally in Milwaukee, on the same stage where Republican rival Donald Trump accepted his party's presidential nomination last month.
WATCH | A reminder on how to pronounce Kamala Harris's name:
'The living legacy of our party'
The Harris campaign has in some ways sought to model itself after Obama's formula.
Kenny Nguyen, a 29-year-old delegate attending the DNC, voted for Obama that year, the first time he'd voted in a presidential election.
Today, he's a city councillor in Broomfield, Colo.
"I think Barack Obama is the living legacy of our party," he told CBC News. "He was the first African-American president. He's everything that our party and country should strive to be."
Nguyen likened the energy around Harris's campaign to that of Obama's when he first ran in 2008.
"He was the man who inspired me to run for office. Because of him, I started my career in politics," he said.
Harris campaign taps Obama staffers
Harris is looking to tap into some of that energizing power of the Obama legacy. She has recently rounded out her campaign team with several high-profile senior strategists from the Obama era, including his former campaign manager and senior aide David Plouffe, who joined the Harris campaign as a senior adviser on strategy.
She's also leaned into pop cultural and internet references to reach younger voters. Shepard Fairey, the artist who designed the iconic "Hope" poster art that became a symbol of Obama's campaign in 2008, has created a similar one of Harris, with the word "Forward."
Obama was in his political hometown of Chicago to deliver the address. Though they didn't immediately endorse her, the former president and former first lady Michelle Obama gave Harris their blessing a few days after she announced her run.
"We look forward to watching her unite our party and our country around a vision for a brighter, fairer, more prosperous future," the statement said, noting that the Obamas have known Harris for over 20 years.
Harris, after all, risked her own political capital when she backed then junior senator Obama in his bid for the presidency in 2008 when most of the party establishment backed Hillary Clinton.
"She was an early supporter of his, and he was an early admirer of hers, without question," David Axelrod, a longtime Obama adviser, told Reuters.
WATCH | Harris paints herself as the future, Trump as past: