Former first lady Michelle Obama energized supporters on Kamala Harris’ behalf Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention and demonstrated the energy and breadth of the Democratic nominee’s evolving coalition.
“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?” the former first lady told the DNC crowd at the United Center before referencing President Barack Obama’s famous slogan. “It’s the contagious power of hope.”
Obama added, ”America, hope is making a comeback.”
And she tore into Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has long attacked the first Black president and first lady, before harkening back to a recent comment Trump made about preserving so-called “Black jobs.”
“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black,” she said. “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s seeking might be one of those ‘Black jobs’?”
Even as she attacked Trump, Obama sought to capture a flavor of the energy from her 2016 convention address when she encouraged Democrats to take the high road against Donald Trump: “When they go low, we go high.”
She warned that Trump’s policies and rhetoric “only makes us small. And let me tell you … going small is never the answer.”
She added: “Going small is petty … it’s unhealthy … and quite frankly, it’s unpresidential.” She called Harris and running mate Tim Walz “good, big-hearted people.”
Obama sought to warn Democrats not to become “their own worst enemies,” nitpicking qualities about Harris and Walz.
“Kamala and Tim have lived amazing lives. I am confident they will lead with compassion, inclusion and grace,” Obama said. “But they are still only human. They’re not perfect. And like all of us, they will make mistakes.”
Obama also gave a touching tribute to her mother, Marian Robinson, who died earlier this year.
She called her mother the woman who “set my moral compass high and showed me the power of my own voice.”
“I still feel her loss so profoundly,” she said.
Robinson was an integral part of the Obamas’ years in the White House, where she lived with them and helped raise the then first couples’ two daughters.
“I wasn’t even sure I’d be sturdy enough to stand before you tonight but my heart compelled me to because of the sense of duty that I feel to honor her memory and remind us all not to squander the sacrifices our elders make to give us a better future,” the former first lady said.
Before concluding her speech, Obama said she was introducing “somebody who knows a whole lot about hope.”
She introduced Barack Obama who she said still wakes up every day thinking about what he can do for the country. The couple hugged warmly, kissed and then held their clasped hands skyward as the former president took the stage.
