“Yes, she can!” Michelle and Barack Obama rocked the Democratic convention on Tuesday, August 21, by hailing the “hope” found with Kamala Harris.
“Hope is back,” declared the former First Lady, still immensely popular, like her husband, in the party. “My Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment,” declared Michelle Obama, whose eloquence and serene authority several times provoked real roars in the excited room.
“We are ready for President Kamala Harris,” assured the first black president of the United States after her, lambasting Donald Trump, this “78-year-old billionaire who never stops whining” and who is “afraid of losing.” “Yes, she can!” said Barack Obama, of course echoing his old slogan. The room then began to chant the phrase.
Gigantic fair
In a very festive atmosphere, the Democrats had previously consecrated Kamala Harris as their candidate. The American vice president, thumbing her nose at her opponent Donald Trump, sold out the venue on Tuesday in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), in the venue where the Republican Party invested the former president. Kamala Harris promised a “future of freedom, possibilities, optimism and faith”.
The Democratic Party, after one of the most eventful months in American political history, wanted to symbolically mark the entry of the vice president into the race for the White House. Her investiture had already been formalized during an online vote.
One by one, against a backdrop of deafening music and cheers, representatives from each American state lent their support. Each delegation had chosen a hit celebrating its home state. Many representatives wore colorful accessories or waved signs, giving the whole thing the feel of a gigantic fair, hosted by a DJ.
“Happy warrior”
For many, the hope Kamala Harris has sparked is reminiscent of the momentum that preceded Barack Obama’s election in 2008. “It’s really similar, there was so much enthusiasm when Obama was running, and that enthusiasm is back, it’s wonderful,” said Carolyn Culpepper, an African-American delegate from Alabama. The 44th president of the United States (2009-2017) spoke last, in the city of Chicago, which is the couple’s stronghold.
Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, had painted a more personal portrait of the vice president before he gave way to the Obamas. “America, in this election, you have to decide who you trust with the future of your families. I trusted Kamala with the future of our family. It was the best decision I ever made,” he said. He called his wife a “joyous warrior,” as he shared touching anecdotes about their history. Many awkward suitors will recognize themselves in his account of a confusing message left on Kamala Harris’s answering machine after their first date. The cheerful, campaign-focused lawyer and the vice president have a blended family, with two children from a previous relationship.
Defector
Former White House spokeswoman for Donald Trump, Stephanie Grisham, came to warn against the Republican candidate, who according to her has “no empathy, no ethics, no respect for the truth.”
The 78-year-old billionaire, who is campaigning in several key states this week, said in Howell, Michigan, that “crime is out of control in America,” blaming Kamala Harris. Violent crime in the United States has been declining since 2020, when it spiked amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her Democratic rival, who has less than three months to convince Americans, attacked the right to abortion, which has been called into question since a decision in 2022 by the Supreme Court, which has become very conservative following the appointments made by Donald Trump. “We’re going to make sure that he suffers the consequences, and that will happen at the ballot box in November,” said the 59-year-old candidate in Milwaukee.
Since her dramatic entry into the campaign after President Joe Biden’s shock withdrawal, Kamala Harris has completely remobilized the Democratic Party. Most polls now credit her with a slight lead over her rival, but the election still looks set to be very close.