Forget everything else….
This was about the 44th President of the United States conveying his worries about the 45th President America trying to riding roughshod over the history and norms of the American Democracy and it’s history…
Barack H. Obama let it hang out tonight….
He reminded us of all the sacrifices of American’s in it’s past worst moments vs Donald Trump’s efforts to get HIS way by blunting , ignoring or breaking norms, rules /regulations and laws…
Barack Obama left the office of the President in Donald Trump’s hands….
He has broadcasted a warning to Americans….
THEY ARE America….
They must show their force in VOTING against a man Barack Obama says is office to only use his power of the office for HIS gain….
The night , except for the Obama speech?
Was about women….
About their Rights, Sufferings and Needs…
Joe Biden will help the nation get back on its feet…
Kamala Harris will help him…
But the OVERALL focus was on Democracy…
On VOTING to unseat Donald J. Trump
This IS something unheard of in modern times….
The last President warning America voters to be VERY afraid of the one that took over for him….
Remarkable….
For years, Trump built his political career by using Obama as a boogeyman — mostly as the lead public face of the racist birther movement. Despite this, Obama in 2016 initially offered Trump the kind of well wishes we expect during a peaceful transfer of power. He even called their post-election conversation “excellent” and professed to be “encouraged” by it.
On Wednesday night, Obama was done putting anything amounting to a good face on things, utterly departing from traditional post-presidential protocol in the process. While Obama has increasingly criticized Trump, Wednesday he went further.
In his speech, Obama said that the man he hoped would rise to the task had utterly failed — and didn’t really even try.
“He never did,” Obama said. “For close to four years now, 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 that he can use to get the attention he craves.
“Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever.”
The comments echoed former first lady Michelle Obama’s speech Monday night, when she said Trump “cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
Barack Obama also suggested Trump used law enforcement as political pawns and averted “facts and science and logic” in favor of “just making stuff up.”
“None of this should be controversial,” Obama said, before alluding to his 2004 convention speech: “These shouldn’t be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They’re American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable him have shown they don’t believe in these things.”
The former president spent most of his speech on the kind of high-minded rhetoric that characterized his 2004 speech and on vouching for his former VP. But his decision to go so hard on Trump was surely one he arrived at after years of Trump laying waste to so many of the other norms of American politics. Democrats have trodden uneasily around just how much to go down that path themselves, and that made this a significant moment….
…
Kamala Harris accepts the Vice President nomination and embraces the diversity of her family….
She carried the water for women against men and a man that use sexual aggression ….
Wednesday night’s acceptance speech was an opportunity for Harris to redefine herself — after her 2020 primary campaign flamed out early and at a time in which she’s not just vital to Democrats’ 2020 hopes, but is set up to be their standard-bearer in future presidential elections.
And two lines stood out: “I know a predator when I see one,” and “There is no vaccine for racism.”
“I have fought for children and survivors of sexual assault,” Harris said. “I fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks and helped take down one of the biggest for-profit colleges. I know a predator when I see one.”
That line, which is similar to one she used when campaigning for herself, came before Harris’s address explicitly turned to President Trump, but it was clearly intended to paint a picture. It was a subtly delivered but not terribly subtle allusion to the character of the man who occupies the Oval Office. In fact, Harris has previously followed up similar comments by directly invoking Trump, saying “and we have a predator in the White House right now.” Harris also uttered it while talking about her past as a prosecutor — seeking to turn something of a liability with progressives into a positive.
Harris later described racial injustice as a “virus,” likening it to the coronavirus outbreak.
“This virus, it has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other,” Harris said. “And let’s be clear: There is no vaccine for racism.”
The speech was short on direct attacks on Trump — the traditional role of a running mate. But it seemed to pave a path for doing so next….
…
The highly anticipated remarks from Joe Biden’s running mate also focused heavily on the former prosecutor’s biography, reintroducing the daughter of immigrants to a national audience and casting her as a crusader for justice with a deep law enforcement background.
But much of Harris’ historic address focused on matters of race, and she began by comparing the plights of prominent Black, female civil rights leaders to the story of her own mother, Shyamala, who emigrated to the United States from India and pursued a career as a cancer researcher.
It was Shyamala who taught Harris and her sister, Maya, “to believe public service is a noble cause and the fight for justice is a shared responsibility,” Harris said — values that shaped the candidate’s ascent from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general to U.S. senator.
“I keep thinking about that 25-year-old Indian woman — all of five feet tall — who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California,” Harris said. “On that day, she probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now speaking these words: I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.”
In addition to their biographical components, Harris’ remarks indicated a willingness to take on a role often assigned to presidential running mates: that of attack dog…
image…Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
Trump did NOT waste time in pushing back at the 3rd night of the Democratic Convention comments…
President Trump tuned in to the third night of the Democratic National Convention for Barack Obama’s anticipated address — live-tweeting his displeasure as his predecessor accused him of being unfit for the job.
“He spied on my campaign, and got caught! Trump wrote in all caps, without directly referring to Obama as the ex-president delivered a rare rebuke of his predecessor’s time in the White House.
“Why did he refuse to endorse slow Joe until it was all over, and even then was very late? Why did he try to get him not to run??” Trump followed in another tweet, barbing Obama for endorsing his veep so late in the primary process.
The president didn’t switch the channel as Biden’s new running mate took the stage, either, skewering Kamala Harris for a now-infamous debate stage exchange on race where Harris insinuated Biden was a racist.
“But didn’t she call him a racist??? Didn’t she say he was incompetent???” Trump pressed again in all caps….
More…
Larry Sabato
@LarrySabato
Not everyone is enjoying #DemConvention. Here’s a new email that opens: “Just when I thought this pathetic event couldn’t get more CORRUPT, they decide to bring in CROOKED Hillary, Crazy Nancy, Pocahontas, Phony Kamala, and Lyin’ Obama.” Signed, Donald Trump.
Molly Ball and 24 others follow
Michael Beschloss
@BeschlossDC
No former President has ever attacked his incumbent successor at a convention like Barack Obama tonight, or even come close.
Badly and clumsily produced (all that awful music — I RISE; I RISE, I RISE drowning out people’s voices). Kamala Harris (when the eastern half of the country’s already sleepy at 11 p.m. after an hour or two of concention) got to be monotonous and sing-song — perhaps because she had no crowd reaction to feed upon.
I haven’t watched a Convention in years.
I haven’t missed anything.
I notice that there are more and more calls for ending these speechathons .They no longer serve any purpose and viewership has dropped sharply.
The most amusement I get from them now is the over the top reaction to the blathering.I read several reviews of Michelle Obama’s speech that declared she had “won” Biden the election.Then, there’s the reviews of how this or that person”did.”
Who cares?
This “spectacle” has nothing to do with anything really.
What Dave, she didn’t inspire you? I suspect Warren didn’t either.
I confess, I was only able to watch highlights given it’s fire season and we had some evacuated guests we were feeding dinner to.
But one thing it was worth was all the new contributors Kamala brought to the party.
Hi, Keith, I hope the fires aren’t getting too close to you and yours.
Kamala Harris spoke for 18 1/2 minutes (according to NBC’s full clip), which proved just a bit too long for her to avoid a certain monotony and repetitiveness in the absence of a live audience with whom to interact.
The first ten or twelve minutes were fine with me, but after that, it just seemed tiresome (“and here’s the thing: … ”), especially after watching two rather mixed hours of earlier convention programming.
So you were probably better off just hearing selected clips.
I agree with ur take DSD…
But Obama stole the show for me even though the first hour’s tribute to women was outstanding….
Making Progress….
Deadline: “According to early numbers from Nielsen, 21.4 million watched during the 10 PM ET hour across six networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN. That is a boost from the 18.6 million who watched on Tuesday and the 18.7 million who watched on Monday.”
“The TV viewership is off by about 11% from the third night of the Democratic Convention in 2016.”
Politicalwire…
Democrats Show They Have a Deeper Bench
Jonathan Bernstein: “It wasn’t just President Barack Obama, who gave a stirring speech. The party also has four women in the Senate who ran for president in this cycle, and two of them — Senator Elizabeth Warren and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris — both gave fine performances on Wednesday. So did former nominee Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And then there was former Representative Gabby Giffords, her career tragically disrupted, who gave perhaps the most gripping and courageous speech of the night. There simply aren’t Republican women of similar stature.”
“As for male luminaries, the Democrats have the benefit of three former presidents while Republicans have only one — and that one appears to be neither interested in attending nor welcome at his party’s convention. The same goes for the 2012 Republican nominee. Their 2008 nominee received a tribute narrated by his widow at the Democrats’ event because his memory wouldn’t be honored by his own party.”