Michelle Obama: 'For someone who professes to hate politics, she is so bloody good at it'
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The former First Lady praised Kamala Harris and unleashed blow after blow on Donald Trump in a speech hailed as "one of the most spectacular" of the convention so far.
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In brief...
- First Lady Michelle Obama rocked the room at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday night
- She hailed Kamala Harris and attacked Donald Trump to much applause from the crowd.
- You can see why the Democrats have been yearning for her to get into politics, The News Agents say.
What’s the story?
Michelle Obama rocked the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Tuesday with an electrifying speech.
Lewis Goodall says it’s one of the most “spectacular sights” of the event he has seen so far.
Her stellar performance threw up the age-old question some of her supporters in the party have long-been asking.
Why won’t the impressive orator become a politician?
.@KamalaHarris is ready for this moment. By every measure, she will be one of the most qualified people ever to seek the presidency. And by every measure, she will be one of the most dignified. pic.twitter.com/laYcArDOao
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) August 21, 2024
What did Michelle Obama say?
The former First Lady’s speech focused on two things: Praising Kamala Harris and slamming Donald Trump.
On Harris, she said the presidential hopeful “understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward.”
She added: “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance.
“If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top.”
She landed blow after blow on Trump. “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us”, she said, adding that Trump’s “limited narrow view of the world” made him feel “threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people – who happen to be Black.”
“Who is going to tell him [Trump] that the job that he is seeking might be one of those Black jobs.”
The former first lady received wild applause from the crowd after making this jibe.
It was a reference to a Trump comment during a debate with Joe Biden and again at a rally that migrants are taking "black jobs", in a bid to appeal to black voters that heavily backfired.
She also accused Trump of using the “same old con, doubling down on ugly misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
BEST MOMENT OF NIGHT AT DNC:
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) August 21, 2024
Michelle Obama to Trump: “Who is going to tell him that the job that he is currently seeking might just me one of those ‘black jobs’?” pic.twitter.com/z0ycTD8pJG
The News Agents take
The News Agents note that Michelle Obama has always said ‘I don't want to go anywhere near politics’.
But for “someone who professes to hate politics, she is so bloody good at it”.
That’s according to Jon Sopel, who watched Michelle Obama’s speech live at the DNC.
“It's like being Leonardo da Vinci and having the ability to paint the Sistine Chapel, but saying, ‘Oh, I just hate painting. I'm not going to bother with it.’ And every now and then, she gets the paintbrush out and creates a little masterpiece.” Jon adds.
“And I felt that that was the speech that she delivered tonight. It was so well crafted and her dig at Trump was pointed. it had a lightness of touch, but it had a moral outrage to it too.”
Lewis Goodall says you can see and understand why so many Democrats have “for years been yearning for Michelle Obama to herself enter the political arena.”
“She's never wanted to do it, but she just electrified this place”, Lewis says.
He adds: “Honestly, looking around here is one of the most spectacular political sights I've seen in this coliseum.”
The ability she and her husband Barack Obama have to captivate a room is unmatched, The News Agents say.
Lewis says: “If you can imagine just a cascade of people, row after row in every single direction, every single one of them on their feet, every single one of them willing that speaker to make them laugh, but also to make them think.
“It is difficult to describe just the sort of psychology of that moment and how impressive that kind of amphitheater of politics is.”
Listen to the full discussion later today on The News Agents.
