United States — As deafening cheers greeted Barack and Michelle Obama, Democrats could have been forgiven for thinking they had been transported 16 years back in time.
But in 2024, the former US president and first lady were devoting their crowd-pleasing abilities towards putting another trailblazer in the White House — Kamala Harris.
“I’ve got the same feeling as I did in 2008. I’m just excited and energized and just, I’m ready,” said Sherry McClain, a delegate from Alabama who watched the couple wow the Democratic convention in Chicago.
“We need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country,” former President Obama says. “We need a president who will stand up for their right to bargain for better wages and working conditions. And Kamala will be that president. Yes she can!” pic.twitter.com/BTNakjL7Kh
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 21, 2024
“Obama just brought it home and I think she is bringing it home, the first female black woman. And we know we’re going to win on November 5th.”
While outgoing President Joe Biden got a long and emotional ovation from the crowd in his farewell speech on Monday, the reaction to the Obamas was closer to a frenzy.
The pair, who still wield enormous influence in the Democratic party, were treated as returning heroes and had the partisan crowd eating out of their hands.
It was perhaps Michelle Obama, 60, who got the loudest cheer of them both, an earsplitting roar as she took to the stage in Chicago, her husband’s hometown.
.@KamalaHarris is ready for this moment. By every measure, she will be one of the most qualified people ever to seek the presidency. And by every measure, she will be one of the most dignified. pic.twitter.com/laYcArDOao
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) August 21, 2024
It wasn’t long, after all, since some in the Democratic party had been calling on her to stand as a candidate as the 81-year-old Biden began to show his age and lose ground to Donald Trump in the polls.
And nostalgia was everywhere.
“America, hope is making a comeback,” she said, riffing on the famous buzzword of her husband’s campaign in 2008, and sparking another huge cheer.
Her speech was short but forceful, filled with warnings of the danger of a second Trump presidency and calling on Democrats not to take anything for granted.
‘Brought the house down’
When the 63-year-old Obama himself spoke there were chants of “Yes we can”, echoing another of the famous slogans that helped make him the first Black president in US history.
But Obama knowingly followed it up by prompting the crowd to chant “Yes she can” — directing the energy towards Harris and her bid to become the first female and South Asian commander in chief.
After years of Donald Trump’s divisive bombast, and then the haltering gaffes of the Biden era, Obama’s often soaring rhetoric was a reminder of times that many Democrats look back to fondly.
President Obama @BarackObama and First Lady @MichelleObama speech full of HOPE ! Crowd chanting Yes We Can ! pic.twitter.com/t7EN5kXWRX
— Ajay Jain Bhutoria (@ajainb) August 21, 2024
“The Obamas brought the house down tonight,” said Richard Brown, 61, State Representative from Missouri, carrying three of the blue “VOTE” placards that thousands of delegates had been waving.
“Michelle Obama said it appropriately, and she said it right. Hope is alive again.”
Laurie Osher, 64, a Democratic supporter from, Maine said as she left the hall that the Obamas had been “fabulous” — especially the former First Lady.
“He married well,” she quipped.
“She really identified all the reasons why we can’t have Trump, and why Kamala Harris is the right person.”
Michelle Obama, with her speech, probably had the entire convention center feeling like they were at a revival of hope, not just a political event. And you, matching the Obamas in your black suit #DNC2024 pic.twitter.com/UQKhtdJ7EA
— Picks & Vidz (@Picksvidz) August 21, 2024
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Source: AFP
Picture: Instagram/@barackobama
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