Obamas, Emhoff back Kamala Harris tonight at DNC

Aug. 20, 2024 Updated 9:49 PM PT

CHICAGO — Former President Obama delivered a buoyant and occasionally fierce address to cap the second night of the Democratic convention Tuesday, urging his party and all Americans to reject the divisive leadership of Donald Trump and to elect Kamala Harris as president to “build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal and more free.”

Obama’s 33-minute speech harked back to the one he gave two decades earlier at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. As a little-known Illinois state senator, he insisted that many of the country’s supposed divisions — between political parties, races and ethnicities — could be healed. The speech made him a national figure.

The appearance by the two-term 44th president was intended to drive home themes not unlike the ones that pushed him to the White House in 2008, offering optimism and youthful vigor in the face of what Democrats described as the Republican Party’s attempt to stoke fear and mistrust.

Obama spoke after a hip-hop, rock and soul music-orchestrated ceremonial roll call of the states, which celebrated Vice President Harris’ ascension to leadership of the Democrats, just one month after President Biden declared that he would not seek a second term.

He spoke fervently in favor of a political ally, Harris, who nearly 17 years ago, as San Francisco district attorney, stepped forward to support Obama’s then-long-shot bid to overtake Hillary Clinton on his way to winning the Democratic nomination and then defeating Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Obama capped an evening that also featured former First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, the marquee speakers working to present the Democratic ticket as the true representatives of average Americans, against a Republican opponent they insisted was looking out only for his wealthy friends and for himself.

Obama lashed out at the man who replaced him in the White House as a sad and distracted megalomaniac whose time has passed. He and the crowd laughed along as he scoffed at the way Trump employed “childish nicknames ... crazy conspiracy theories [and] this weird obsession with crowd sizes.”

(It appeared from the tone of the Democrat who once held the Oval Office, and the crowd’s laughter, that the feeling was Trump might be obsessed with the size of something else.)

Obama compared the Republican to “the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day,” adding: “You know, from a neighbor, that’s exhausting. From a president, it’s just dangerous.”

The sharp-edged humor offered by Obama continued a pattern of Harris’ campaign: treating Trump as both a menace and a buffoon. Analysts have said previous attacks that labeled Trump only as a threat to democracy had resulted in the perverse outcome of increasing the Republican’s stature.

Obama upbraided Trump as someone who would grant another tax cut “that would mostly help him and his rich friends.” Meanwhile, he said, Trump had been an obstructionist, working to block an immigration reform bill — supported for a time by congressional Republicans, until Trump objected — that would have addressed the overcrowding at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The only reason for Trump insisting his party block the bill, Obama said: “Because he thought solving the problem would actually hurt his campaign.” When the audience at the United Center responded with resounding boos, Obama responded with a famous refrain of his from past campaigns: “Don’t boo. Vote!”

The Democrat called his successor’s divisive style “the oldest trick in politics, from a guy whose act, let’s face it, has gotten pretty stale. We don’t need another four years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have all seen that movie before. And we all know that the sequel is usually worse!”

The Democratic faithful again erupted in applause and laughter.

Obama said his long alliance with the vice president convinced him that “Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion.”

The former president followed his wife. After she introduced him, Obama said: “I am feeling ready to go, even if I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.”

The onetime first lady delivered a ringing call for a restoration of hope and a rejection of the divisive politics of Trump in her prime-time address to the convention and a national television audience.

Obama had the audience laughing and roaring in approval as she sang the praises of “my girl,” Harris, whom she called “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency … and one of the most dignified.”

The indirect reference was clearly to Trump, as were a series of other zingers from the former first lady, who derided the Republican, saying it was time to “vanquish the demons of fear, division and hate that have consumed us.”

In a sly allusion to Trump’s launch point into the 2016 presidential race at Manhattan’s Trump Tower, Obama said: “If we see a mountain standing before us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator to take us to the top.”

Earlier, Democrats delivered a rollicking symbolic vote of the states — orchestrated by a DJ spinning rock, hip-hop and soul — as their national convention celebrated the nomination of Harris as the Democratic candidate for president.

The roll call included appearances by entertainment celebrities such as film director Spike Lee, actor Eva Longoria and hip-hop star Lil Jon, with Harris appearing via a video link from Milwaukee, where she was rallying with voters in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

“We are so honored to be your nominees,” Harris said, with vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, at her side. “This is a people-powered campaign, and together, we will chart a new way forward.”

As leader of Harris’ home state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom had the honor of announcing the last votes of the evening and singing the praises of his longtime ally and putative rival. The televised voting came weeks after the Democrats held a virtual roll call to ensure Harris was the party’s official nominee in time to appear on the ballots in all 50 states.

Interviewed by CNN shortly after the vote, Newsom called Harris a “next-level talent” who, as the presidential nominee, “has a chance to shine.”

In a warm if slightly goofy speech with frequent references to Harris as the “glue,” Emhoff highlighted his wife’s personal side, describing their blended family and their love story.

A video montage showed pictures of Emhoff and Harris — cozied up at the Hollywood Bowl, cooking together in their Brentwood kitchen and side by side at Harris’ vice presidential inauguration in 2021.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff walks onstage Tuesday at the Democratic convention.

Earlier, Cole Emhoff said when introducing his father: “Next, he is going to make history again as the first first gentleman.”

Doug Emhoff recounted how he and Harris met — on a blind date after he worried he had butchered his chances by leaving her a long voicemail. The two will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday — when Harris officially accepts the nomination.

“As I got to know her better, I just fell in love fast. I learned what drives Kamala,” Emhoff said. “And it’s what you’ve seen for these past four years and especially these past four weeks: She finds joy in pursuing justice.”

Harris was about to land in Chicago in Air Force Two when Emhoff’s speech began, with the senior campaign leaders in the front cabin cheering, “Doug! Doug! Doug!” The plane circled the tarmac for about 10 minutes so that she could finish watching his speech.

Early in Tuesday’s proceedings, the convention heard admonitions from scions of two Democratic presidents that Harris will carry on the legacies of John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter.

Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson and a close relative of potential 2024 spoiler independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told thousands of delegates gathering for their party’s national convention that his assassinated grandfather is his “hero.”

The youngest child of Caroline Kennedy said, invoking the words of JFK: “The torch has been passed to a new generation, to a leader who shares my grandfather’s energy, vision and optimism for our future.”

Jason Carter, 49, compared the humility of Harris and his 99-year-old grandfather, who is in poor health, but hoping to vote for the vice president this fall. “She knows what is right, and she fights for it,” Carter said. “She understands that leadership is about service, not selfishness.”

The audience also heard from a series of Republicans and former Trump allies, who depicted him as mean-spirited and callous to the needs of everyday people.

Perhaps the most powerful testimony came from onetime White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who described herself as a former Trump “true-believer,” forced to reconsider her loyalty after observing his behavior outside the public eye, including times when he would mock his supporters as “basement dwellers.”

On one visit to a hospital, with people dying in an ICU, Trump cared only that his show of concern was being captured on camera, Grisham said, when, in fact, “he has no empathy. No morals. And no fidelity to the truth.” She said Trump used to tell her: “It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie. Say it enough, and people will believe you.”

Rainey and Pinho reported from Chicago, and Miller from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Seema Mehta in Chicago contributed to this report.