On Night Two of the DNC, The Obamas Brought Back Hope

By Solomon Jones | WURD Radio

America – hope is makin’ a comeback!

That’s how Michelle Obama began her speech, and the line was met with thunderous applause. Her husband, Barack, who famously ran on the twin themes of hope and change, was waiting in the wings as she spoke, so her reference to hope was about much more than Kamala Harris. It was about the optimism she’s caused—optimism that democrats haven’t felt since Obama.

The former first lady said her hope has sometimes dimmed, especially after the loss of her mother. But Michelle Obama, a Harvard educated lawyer and a gifted speaker in her own right, didn’t linger on the pain of the loss. Instead, she talked about the lessons.

She remembered that her mother told her that hard work pays off. If not for you then for your children or grandchildren. And she linked those beliefs to Kamala Harris’s mother—a woman who brought those same values from across an ocean, and taught them to her daughters in America.

Kamala didn’t get to fail upwards, she said. Nor did she descend from an escalator in the sky. She didn’t get millions in loans or rewrite the rules to benefit herself. In fact, Obama said, Kamala Harris came from a middle-class household and worked her way up to become the vice president of the United States. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency, she said.

Then, in a hilarious swipe at Trump, Michelle Obama looked int the eyes of America and said, “Who’s gone tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?”

Barack Obama was just as brilliant. When he referred to Trump and the crowd began to boo, he quickly said, ‘Don’t boo … vote.”

When he talked about Trump’s fixation with crowd sizes, Obama did hand motions that drew laughter. Then Obama turned to Tim Walz, and his genuine nature.

“You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t’ come from some political consultant,” Obama said. “They come from his closet and they’ve been through some stuff.”

The camera cut to Walz’s wife, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

But in between the jokes, Barack Obama’s message was clear. Kamala Harris is the fighter America needs, and while hope has made a comeback, it takes votes to get it done.