The Obamas use their speeches to the Democratic National Convention to excite voters
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Last night in Chicago, former President Barack Obama made the case for electing Vice President Kamala Harris to the office he once held.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BARACK OBAMA: I am feeling hopeful, because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Obama critiqued former President Trump, saying the country doesn't need a repeat of his chaos and bluster. He urged Democrats to reach out to voters who don't agree with them on everything.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith was in the United Center - joins us now. Tamara, what did Michelle Obama have to say?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: She directly took on something that no one else has yet in the hours and hours of speeches - the racism and sexism that she knows from experience Harris will face a lot more of in the weeks to come and the largely unspoken fear, even with all the hope and euphoria from Democrats, that America isn't ready for a woman of color to be president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MICHELLE OBAMA: We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.
(CHEERING)
KEITH: Her message to Democrats that she repeated throughout her speech was do something - to volunteer, to counter lies, to not be complacent in what is expected to be a very close election.
MARTÍNEZ: And then President Obama - former President Obama - followed. What was the crux of his case?
KEITH: Well, both of the Obamas were quite critical of Trump. Michelle Obama said that Harris and most Americans don't come from rich families where they get a lot of chances to get ahead or a free ride to the top. Barack Obama said Trump has never stopped whining about his troubles, and he mocked Trump about his obsession with crowd size on a night when Harris supporters filled not one, but two arenas. During the convention last night, Harris held a rally in Milwaukee, in the same arena where Trump had made his acceptance speech just five weeks ago.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, so tonight, Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will deliver the keynote address. What does he have to do tonight?
KEITH: Americans - and even Democrats - are still getting to know him, so he's got to fill in some of the blanks about his life, since, until recently, Walz was relatively unknown on the national stage, and Trump and his allies have been going after him. Former President Obama laid some of the groundwork for him last night, emphasizing his authenticity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
B OBAMA: You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don't come from some political consultant. They come from his closet, and they have been through some stuff.
KEITH: And when the cameras cut to Walz's wife, Gwen, she gave the look of someone who wished some of those ragged flannels would be thrown out.
MARTÍNEZ: I'm hugging my flannels from the '90s, Tam. I'm never giving those up. Now, you mentioned how Americans are still getting to know Tim Walz. His running mate, Kamala Harris, is still getting to know Tim Walz, as well. So you've been out with him on the trail. How's this getting-to-know-each-other stage going?
KEITH: Before she picked him, it would be more accurate to say that they were friendly, rather than friends. They have this buddy comedy energy when they're together now - Walz, the Midwestern high school football coach and teacher turned politician, and Harris, the former prosecutor who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I called author Chris Whipple, who writes about presidents, to talk about their relationship. He says it is pretty common for a nominee and their running mate to have a campaign-trail marriage, without having a real relationship going in. He says so far, they've done well together campaigning, but it is really hard to know how they would work together in office, should they win.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome.
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.