- “We're ready for a President Kamala Harris,” Obama says.
- Michelle tells Trump that the presidency could be a “black job”
- Pro-Palestine protests near Israeli consulate result in arrests.
Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama delivered a double blow at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday night, urging Americans to back Kamala Harris in her last-minute presidential bid against Republican Donald Trump.
Obama, America's first Black president, has thrown his considerable political capital behind Harris, who on Nov. 5 will attempt to make history as the first woman and the first Black and South Asian person to be elected U.S. president.
“We don't need four more years of bluster, bungling and chaos. We've seen that movie before and we all know the sequel is usually worse,” Obama told delegates on the second day of the Chicago convention.
“America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a president named Kamala Harris.”
He took aim at Trump, the Republican who succeeded him in the White House in 2017, and praised President Joe Biden, his vice president who was forced out of the 2024 race by Democratic allies who feared he would lose to Trump in November.
“History will remember Joe Biden as a president who stood up for democracy in a time of great peril. I'm proud to call him my president, but I'm even prouder to call him my friend,” Obama said, prompting chants of “We love Joe.”
Obama was introduced by his wife, Michelle, who tops the Democrats' wish list for a future president.
“America, hope is returning,” Michelle Obama said, in a nod to Obama's first presidential campaign in 2008.
She bluntly warned that Trump would try to distort Harris's truth, just as he did “everything in his power to try to make people afraid of us.”
“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be black,” he said to thunderous applause.
“Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently looking for could be one of those 'black jobs'?” he asked. During the election campaign, Trump has referred to immigrants crossing into the United States as stealing “black jobs.”
Trump launched his political career with racist attacks on Obama's citizenship status and has repeated similar attacks against Harris.
At 63, Barack Obama figured prominently in the chaotic deliberations that led Biden to withdraw from the race last month and endorse Harris, his vice president.
Harris fires at Trump
Harris, 59, has been on a historic whirlwind ride as her campaign has broken fundraising records and filled stadiums with supporters.
Harris joined virtually from a campaign rally in Milwaukee. Delegates in Chicago held up signs reading “FREEDOM,” mirroring those held up by her supporters at her rally in Wisconsin.
Harris and her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, took the stage in Milwaukee at the same venue as last month's Republican National Convention, where Trump formally received his party's nomination.
In her speech, Harris criticized Trump for saying he does not regret the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion. Three Trump-appointed justices joined a 6-3 majority on the high court.
“I believe that bad behavior should have consequences. We will make sure that he faces those consequences and that will be done at the ballot box in November,” Harris said.
Democrats see abortion rights as a winning issue in this campaign, and Harris had led the effort as vice president.
Pro-Palestine protesters arrested
Outside, a demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters near the Israeli consulate in Chicago briefly turned violent after a group of about 50 people broke away from the larger protest and pushed against a police line. Several arrests were made, a Reuters witness said.
Protests against U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza overshadowed the convention, but most speakers avoided the topic.
US Senator Bernie Sanders was an exception, telling the audience: “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and demand an immediate ceasefire.”
