Unburdened by the political weight of an official role, former first lady Michelle Obama excoriated President Trump on the opening night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Obama is no fan of Trump. But her past criticisms of the incumbent seem mild compared to her keynote address Monday, in which she laid bare his perceived deficiencies as a president and a person.
“Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is,” she said.
She added, wearing a gold “vote” necklace, “If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don’t make a change in this election. We have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.”
Yet Obama also struck a softer note in support of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as opposed to trying to simply mobilize the party against Trump.
She evoked her standout moment from the 2016 convention, in which she urged Democrats to “go high” when Trump and Republicans “go low,” applying that mantra to the current cycle.
“Going high is the only thing that works,” she said. “But let’s be clear: Going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to that mountain top.”
While Obama made a deeply personal pitch for Biden this time around, the online medium, detached from a traditionally crowded convention hall, felt different in contrast to her message for 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton.
“I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic, and lead our country,” she said.
Obama’s speech, in essence a character testimony, is her first appearance on the campaign trail for Biden, the two-term vice president of her husband, former President Barack Obama. Barack Obama will address the four-day virtual convention on Wednesday night.
Michelle Obama joined Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and a slate of Republicans, including former GOP Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in speaking to the theme “We the People” for the program, hosted by actress Eva Longoria Baston.
The opening night was laden with overtures to independents and disenchanted Republicans, from ex-GOP New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, previous New York Rep. Susan Molinari, and Meg Whitman, the 2010 California Republican gubernatorial nominee, to a farmer from Pennsylvania named Rick Telesz.
“I don’t have all the answers, but if something doesn’t work for you, it’s time for a change,” Telesz said.
Earlier Monday, Biden campaign co-chair Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond said their inclusion was deliberate and important to building a winning coalition in the fall against Trump, almost giving them permission to defect.
“I call them the ‘silent Biden voters,’ which are those Republicans that feel bullied, those Republicans that feel that they will be isolated if they support Biden, and that they will be picked on,” Richmond said. “This will show them that they’re not alone.”
In between the remarks and musical performances from the likes of Leon Bridges and Maggie Rogers, Democrats also paused on Monday for a moment of silence to mark the death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Memorial Day in Minnesota while being detained by a squad of white police officers.
“George should be alive today. Breonna Taylor should be alive today. Ahmaud Arbery should be alive today. Eric Garner, Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland — they should all be alive today,” Philonise Floyd, George’s brother, said. “It’s up to us to carry on the fight for justice.”
