Events | Politics

Barack Obama Attacks Trump, and VP Nominee Kamala Harris Introduces Herself to America in Action-Packed DNC Night 3

By A.J. Katz 

Wednesday night, Sen. Kamala Harris, 55, officially received the 2020 Democratic Party nomination for vice president. She will serve as Joe Biden‘s running mate in the general election this November.

Biden officially secured the 2020 Democratic Party nomination for president Tuesday night, accompanied by his wife Jill and grandchildren.

Night 3 of the 2020 Democratic National Convention featured some of the most popular names in politics, regardless of party, delivering remarks in support of the Biden-Harris ticket, in support of the party, and against Trump: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the aforementioned Harris, and former president Barack Obama, who delivered what ended up being a fiery address live from Philadelphia.

Advertisement

Tom Jones of Poynter phrased it nicely earlier today: “The past two nights have delivered something that big conventional hall conventions rarely do: a real personal connection. Instead of speakers talking to thousands of people inside the hall and millions watching on TV, it feels like each speaker is talking to just one person: you.”

Did the aforementioned speakers (and other luminaries) cause the viewer to feel that way again on Wednesday night?

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers opened Night 3 of the DNC, giving remarks live from Milwaukee, where the convention was supposed to be held before the pandemic forced everyone to be socially distanced from one another.

In a bit of a surprise, Sen. Harris then appeared, and gave remarks from a backstage area in Wilmington, Del. She urged people to vote and vote early, and promoted a number to text to, before tossing it to actress Kerry Washington, the moderator of the evening who, like the preceding moderators, beamed in from a studio in Los Angeles. However, Washington was far more involved as moderator on Night 3 than her predecessors had been on the previous nights.

The DNC did a nice job of breaking the presentation down by theme, something it didn’t accomplish the first two evenings.

The first major theme of the night was gun violence, a major issue among Democrats. The DNC virtual presentation showed video footage from the March for Our Lives movement and video messages from men and women around the country speaking about preventing gun violence, and how Biden would be the candidate to help prevent it.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords also participated in the taped segment about gun violence. You’ll recall that she was nearly assassinated nine years ago at a constituent event near Tucson, Ariz. In an emotional video, Giffords also expressed support for Biden.

The second major theme of the night was climate change. Washington queued up video messages from everyday Americans who were sounding the alarm over climate change. A message from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham followed. She is a significant climate advocate and spoke about wanting the U.S. to re-enter the climate agreement, and how climate change is not actually a “hoax.” Grisham was reportedly one of the people considered by Biden for the vp role. She is also one of the few high-profile Hispanic politicians to speak at the convention so far. “The choice is clear. The choice is Joe Biden,” she said.

Then, a number of climate activists, many of them young, provided taped messages and expressed their support for Biden and his plans for clean energy jobs.

Pop superstar Billie Eilish debut a new song, “My Future,” and that led into the third major theme of the night: race and immigration. The fourth was women’s rights, and that led into Hillary Clinton’s remarks in support of Biden, beginning just after 9:45 p.m.

Clinton wore white for suffragettes, and remarked, “Look, this can’t be another woulda-coulda-shoulda election. If you vote by mail, request your ballot now and send it back right away. If you vote in person, do it early. Become a poll worker. Most of all, no matter what, vote.”

Clinton was followed by Pelosi, Warren, Obama and then Harris closing it out.

One source told TVNewser prior that President Obama “had been waiting almost four years to make this speech.”

He certainly did not hold back, and according to one of his former aides, this was a different kind of speech. It was truly personal.

Here’s some of it:

“I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president,” Obama said. “I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of the country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care. But he never did.

“He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show he can use to get the attention that he craves.

“Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe.

“Over eight years, Joe was always the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better president. He’s got the character and the experience to make us a better country.

“None of this should be controversial. These shouldn’t be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They are American principles. At this moment, this president and those who enable him have shown they don’t believe in these things.

“I’m also asking you to believe in your own ability. To embrace your responsibility as citizens. To make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure. Because that is what’s at stake right now. Our democracy.”

At least one of his aides was a bit taken aback.

According to another former aide, the former president achieved a goal:

Conservative host Ben Shapiro wasn’t a fan of Obama’s speech:

 

“You cannot raise the rhetorical or historical stakes any higher,” CBS News’ John Dickerson remarked in the post-show recap. “This was the most powerful ‘get out the vote’ message that’s ever been delivered from a convention.”

One of those tweets:

Going into the speech, Fox News senior political analyst Juan Williams asked arguably the most important question of the night: How would Barack Obama, the most beloved member of the Democratic party, pitch Joe Biden to America, while attacking Trump at the same time?

Williams said the following before Obama’s fiery speech.

“What you are going to get is the man who is the leader of the Democratic party until Joe Biden speaks tomorrow night,” said Williams. “I think he [Obama] is the leading light of the party, the former president, someone who remains extremely popular inside the Democratic party and we saw his wife deliver really resounding, strong words on Monday night. I think he is up to the task, the question is, what is the message? Because the criticism has been this convention has been largely critical of President Trump as opposed to supportive of Joe Biden, what does Joe Biden stand for? Why Joe Biden? Why should people vote for Joe Biden? It has been ladies night, I hope you guys have all noticed that, beginning of course with the idea that Kamala Harris is going to be the keynote but you also have Gabby Giffords talking about the gun control issue that we just heard mentioned. You heard from Hillary Clinton, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker. Women are at the center of the audience and the stage tonight for the Democrats.”

Chris Wallace seemed to think Obama’s attempt at accomplishing the above wasn’t particularly successful, and referred to it as “a curious speech.”

“I got to say guys I thought it was a really curious speech. You say he talked for 15 minutes, somebody will tell me if I am right or wrong but I bet he didn’t talk for Joe Biden for five of those 15 minutes and basically said he was my brother in the White House, he made me a better president, he will make it a better country, talked about how he will get control of the pandemic and rebuild the economy.”

“It wasn’t even all that much about Donald Trump, although he certainly made clear, I think all you can only call it his contempt for Donald Trump, but most of it was about, almost like the community organizer from Chicago, about how people have to go out and organize and as he said our democracy is at stake. But as a full throated endorsement of Joe Biden, not saying he wasn’t for him, it was a curious speech.”

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer disagreed:

“I’ve been watching President Obama since 2004 deliver speeches,” he began. “This may have been the most powerful address he ever gave. A presidential address to the nation, not only strongly supporting the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, right now. “But going after the sitting president of the United States.”

Blitzer said it was rare, (if not unprecedented) for a former president to take aim at his successor.

“I’ve studied American history a long time,” Blitzer said. “I don’t remember a time when the immediate past president was going after the sitting president the way he did.”

Here’s the full 19 minutes, 14 seconds of it:

 

To conclude the evening, Harris took the stage for her remarks, introducing herself to the rest country who might not be quite as familiar with her background as many in politics and California are.

“My mother instilled in my sister Maya and me the values that would chart the course of our lives,” she said. “She raised us to be proud, strong Black women, and she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage.”

Harris also discussed systemic racism in America and the Covid-19 pandemic, among other topics. It was notable that she didn’t say President Trump’s name more than once or twice. She seemed to let Obama do the dirty work for her.

Some reactions to Sen. Harris’ speech:

“Today I think we understood who Kamala Harris is as a human. She humanized herself and she humanized Joe Biden,” said CBS News contributor Maria Elena Salinas. “I think people, what they get out of this also is that they will really work together as a team. To them family is first. They are very relatable today. Maybe they didn’t see them as politicians, maybe today they saw them just as human beings.”

 

MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff noted a line that will stick with everyone.

 

An interesting observation here:

A few general reactions:

Fox News host-turned Trump campaign advisor Kimberly Guilfoyle wasn’t impressed:

 

Here’s the full 6 minutes, 23 seconds of Sen. Harris’ speech. Slightly shorter than Obama’s:

Advertisement