CHICAGO — Former first lady Michelle Obama told the crowd at the Democratic National Convention with a clarion call to “do something – underscoring that time is running out to get Vice President Kamala Harris over the finish line.
Michelle Obama hearkened back to how Harris’s mother would tell the future VP, “Don’t sit around and complain about things, do something,” while subtly foreshadowing her coming call to action.
“Don’t complain if no one from the campaign has specifically reached out to ask for your support. There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness,” she stressed. “This is your official ask, Michelle Obama is asking you, no I’m telling y’all to do something.”
Chants of “do something” quickly erupted from the energized crowd.
The former first lady warned Democrats against letting fear about Harris’ electability stop them from turning out for her.
“We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right,” she said. “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.”
“They are not perfect, and like all of us, they will make mistakes,” she added, referring to Harris and her runningmate Tim Walz. “It is up to us – all of us – to be the solution that we seek. It’s up to all of us to be the anecdote to the darkness and the mission.”
During her speech, she also took on former President Donald Trump by name, excoriating him on race and gender.
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” she lamented. “His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be black.”
“Who’s going to tell him that the job that he’s currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?”
That’s a nod to Trump’s remark about how illegal immigrants were taking away “black jobs” during the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention.
Obama also not-so-subtly zinged Trump over his wealth, without mentioning him directly by name.
“She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” she said, referencing Harris. “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth.”
The former first lady has a history of coining iconic rallying cries during her big speeches to Democrats. During the last major in-person Democratic National Convention of 2016, Michelle Obama popularized the phrase, “When they go low, we go high.”
This go around, she sought to convey a message of hope, in a callback to her husband’s 2008 campaign slogan.
“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it? Not just here in this arena, but spreading all across this country we love. A familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for too long. You know what I’m talking about? It’s the contagious power of hope!” she proclaimed.
“America, hope is making a comeback.
A Chicago native, she recalled how the last time she trekked through the Windy City, it was to memorialize her mother, who passed away this past May.
“I am realizing that until recently, I have mourned the dimming of that hope, and maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings, that deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future,” she said. “The last time I was here in my hometown was to memorialize my mother.”
She also hailed Harris as “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency” in her speech which made no mention of President Biden.
Michelle Obama has been privately upset with how the Biden family treated Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Axios reported.
She later wrapped up her speech and welcomed her husband to the stage.
Her speech drew one of the most animated reactions from the audience inside the United Center to date during the convention.
