‘Hope Is Making A Comeback’: Michelle Obama Endorses Kamala Harris At Democratic National Convention
Former US first lady Michelle Obama told the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
That “hope is making a comeback” as the party gathers in Chicago to anoint Kamala Harris as its presidential nominee. “Something magically wonderful is in the air… It’s the contagious power of hope,” she told attendees ahead of former president Barack Obama’s address.
Her husband and former US president Barack Obama will use the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to anoint Kamala Harris the party’s future and, as the first Black and South Asian woman presidential nominee, heir to his trailblazing legacy.
His turn will amp up the already buoyant mood in Chicago where President Joe Biden delivered his own emotional speech late on August 19 less than a month after ending his re-election bid.
Harris’s husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, said “she is ready”. “She brings both joy and toughness to this task,” he said to cheers, recounting personal stories like paying for college by working full time at McDonald’s, as well as referring to his divorce.
“At this moment in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president,” he said.
‘Hardest glass ceiling’
Trying to pry media attention away from the Democratic convention, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is holding events all week and on Tuesday (August 20) spoke about what he says is Harris’s “anti-police” stance. At an event in Howell, Michigan, he attacked what he called “the Kamala crime wave.”
“You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread — you get shot,” he said flanked by police officers and their cars, falsely claiming there has been a 43 percent increase in violent crime. While allies have pleaded publicly for Trump to focus on policies and stop his barrage of personal insults against Harris, he has not stopped.
The other star speaker was Hillary Clinton, who in 2016 was the first female presidential nominee of a major party, but lost to Trump in an election that opened up one of the most turbulent eras in recent US politics. Harris, she said, will be the one to break “the highest, hardest glass ceiling” in the country.
Twenty million people watched the first night of the DNC, ratings monitor Nielsen said, beating viewers for the inaugural evening of the Republican gathering that drew 18.1 million. Local media reported that Chicago hotels housing convention attendees had received bomb threats, but city authorities did not comment.