Obama tries again to help elect the first female US president

He enters the Democratic National Convention in his adopted hometown as a powerful fundraiser who still enjoys the approval of most Americans. But he has at times failed to transfer his star power to other Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton in 2016. This election will test whether he can connect with a new generation of voters eight years after he left office.

Obama will pitch the vice president as a figure who, if elected, could protect Democratic priorities achieved during his and President Biden’s tenures. The speech is a high-profile opportunity for the nation’s first Black president to urge Americans to embrace how Harris, a daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, could be the first woman elected president and the first of South Asian descent.

Should Donald Trump prevail this fall, his return to the White House would give him a chance not just to unwind part of Obama’s agenda, but Trump would also take a hatchet to the legacy left by Biden, Obama’s vice president and someone who defeated Trump four years ago amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Obama’s address at the United Center arena will be his highest-profile speech since at least 2020 and one of many appearances he is expected to make on Harris’s behalf as the election draws nearer.

His friendship with the vice president goes back 20 years, after they met while he was running for Senate, according to a person familiar with their relationship. She later was an early supporter of his 2008 presidential campaign and knocked on doors for him ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

Obama, 63, and Harris, 59, have remained in touch since 2020, the person said, with Obama offering counsel and serving as a sounding board. He has pledged to support her campaign in any way he can, including policy or strategic advice, fundraising and get-out-the-vote travel.

His political activity, which is expected to intensify closer to the election, will be coordinated with congressional Democrats and the Harris campaign, a person close to him said.

A person familiar with his remarks said Obama will affirm why Harris and the party’s vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are the right leaders for the moment, lay out the task in front of Democrats and bring into focus the values at stake in the election.

When Biden was expected to be the Democratic nominee, he appeared to be losing some support among Black voters to Trump. But Harris is regaining the high level of support traditionally enjoyed by the party among Black voters. Her strength with those voters might allow him to also be deployed elsewhere, such as in critical suburban areas.

Some of Obama’s biggest presidential accomplishments include passage of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to combat the effects of the 2007-09 recession.

A 2023 Gallup survey found 63% of U.S. adults retrospectively approve of the job Obama did as president. John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were the only presidents ranked above him, while Trump at 46% and Richard Nixon at 32% were the two Americans approved of the least of the nine presidents included in the poll.

“Given his level of popularity around the country, I think he will be a critical surrogate for her," said Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser and longtime Obama family friend.

Former President Bill Clinton, who ranked just below Obama in the Gallup survey, is expected to address the convention Wednesday as part of an evening featuring Walz.

Hillary Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016, addressed the convention Monday, as did Biden. Clinton made history eight years ago as the first female nominee of a major party.

The president departed Chicago after his speech and won’t be present for Obama’s address amid questions about strain in their relationship following Biden being urged by some in the party to drop out of the race.

The appearances by two of the three living past Democratic presidents, and the 2016 nominee, stands in contrast with the absence and lack of acknowledgment of former Republican President George W. Bush at the GOP convention last month in Milwaukee.

Michelle Obama is expected to speak ahead of her husband. Jarrett said the former first lady has an independent relationship with Harris separate from her husband’s and she supports the vice president “unconditionally."

A person familiar with her planned remarks said she would lay out how Harris is ready to lead the nation forward and “turn the page on fear and division."

An endorsement for Harris from the Obamas didn’t come as quickly as many others. Jarrett said the former president was simply trying to play the role of elder statesman in the party and not prematurely put his thumb on the scale, something he had also avoided doing in previous Democratic presidential primaries. In 2020, Obama addressed the Democrats’ virtual convention from an American Revolution museum in Philadelphia. He spoke about Biden but also described Harris as “an ideal partner who is more than prepared for the job."

This week’s convention marks the first time Obama has attended a convention in Chicago. When the city last hosted the DNC, in 1996, he was working at a small legal firm and teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He would be elected that fall to the Illinois State Senate.

At the 2000 convention in Los Angeles, Obama’s credit card was declined for a rental car. He has said he was feeling down on continuing his pursuit of a political career, having lost a Democratic primary earlier that year for a Chicago-based congressional seat that drained his personal finances. Just four years later, his convention luck would dramatically turn around.

On July 27, 2004, Obama gave a stirring 17-minute keynote address to his party’s convention in Boston that started him on the path to the presidency. He was just a state senator running for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, but some Chicago backers already viewed him as presidential material because of his biography, intelligence and oratory skills.