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“This election is going to be close,” Michelle Obama told the Democratic National Convention tonight in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois of the rough race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The former First Lady has pretty finely attuned political antenna, but on the second day of the DNC her speech tonight was a landslide winner.
Don’t ask us, ask the 44th President of the United States. Or as Barack Obama said Tuesday at the top of his own speech before Democrats and the viewing world: “I’m the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.”
On any other night from any other speaker, the words “Hope is making a comeback” would have been the line of the night. But that was just Michelle Obama’s warm up as she offered strong support to Vice President Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Touting Harris as “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency,” the Becoming author TKO’d the man who claimed her husband wasn’t even born in America – with his own words. “Who’s going to tell him the job he is seeking might be one of those Black jobs?” the ex-occupant of the slave built White House slayed.
Hitting Trump were it will really hurt, Mrs. Obama added the former Celebrity Apprentice host is the legatee of “the affirmative action of generational wealth.”
In many ways, it has felt like the former First Lady and bestselling author has spent the past eight years both living down and explaining her “when they go low, we go high” comment from the 2016 convention.
“For me, going high is not losing the urgency or the passion or the rage, especially when you are justified in it,” Michelle Obama told CBS’ Stephen Colbert in 2022 “Going high means finding the purpose in your rage. Rage without reason, without a plan, without direction is just more rage. And we’ve been living in a lot of rage.”
Carried live on cable news, all the broadcast nets and online, that ended tonight as Michelle Obama reset the table for both herself and the already fired up Democrats in a way almost no seasoned pol ever could.
As the former White House Press Secretary to President Joe Biden (and ex-Obama administration vet) put it:
A revered figure among Democrats and the majority of Americans, Mrs. Obama has always seemed to distain the requirements of modern politics while effortlessly surpassing the expectations they bring with them. To that end, Michelle Obama has long been touted as a prospect for high office herself. Regardless of the fact, the one-time powerhouse lawyer has repeatedly said she has zero interest.
Her protests to the contrary, tonight’s remarks will only increase the drum beat to get Michelle Obama’s name on a ballot someday soon.
Kicking off with words from former NOLA Mayor and Democratic royalty Mitch Landrieu, Day 2 of the DNC saw some music from Patti LeBelle and Windy City native Common, some presidential grandsons, some union members and a rockin’ ceremonial roll call.
From ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ some Dr. Dre (California), Tom Petty, Eminem (Michigan) and Prince (Minnesota), it was a curated soundtrack by DJ Cassidy that took one of the usually dullest of convention traditions and actually got the blood pumping. Harris’ campaign theme of Beyonce’s ‘Freedom’ was played in the United Center, but Texas’ tune was the Houston-born superstar’s ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’. It was a bit of a family affair as Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z saw his ‘Empire State of Mind picked as the Empire State’s song.
An in-the-house appearance on “A bold vision for America’s future” themed night by Lil Jon for the great state of Georgia clearly won the roll. Unexpected cameos by Stranger Things alum Sean Astin for Indiana and Treme vet Wendell Pierce for Louisiana brought more in the flesh star power too.
Despite the more than 50 song long roll call and remarks from luminaries such as Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), the Ana Navarro hosted Day 2 of the DNC was striving to be a slightly more streamlined event than the primetime busting Monday night. It was also a much more geographically extended event as Vice President Harris and Governor Waliz were not in the building on Tuesday, but attending a 15,000 strong rally in Milwaukee, home of the 2024 GOP convention – a fact that was brought to viewers at home and in the arena by some old skool split screen.
With tonight headlined by the hometown Obamas, Harris is not expected to be speaking in person in Chicago. However, as her husband and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff took the stage to give personal insights to the candidate earlier Tuesday, the VP will be taking a traditional route and closing out the DNC on August 22 with her acceptance speech.
