At the DNC, the Obamas rebuked more than Trump. They rebuked Trumpism.
OPINION: Barack and Michelle Obama gave rousing speeches contrasting the morals and values of Vice President Kamala Harris vs. former President Donald Trump.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Barack and Michelle Obama are the two best orators in the Democratic Party today, and they showed that again Tuesday night. Their speeches at the Democratic National Convention made a compelling, emotional, values-based argument in favor of Kamala Harris and against Donald Trump.
Michelle’s speech started with the message that she could feel hope returning, a note that linked Harris’ joyful, optimistic, hopeful campaign with her husband’s 2008 campaign, which was rooted in hope and change. But that note also rebuked Trump’s campaign, which is rooted in hate and division.
Michelle also spoke about mothers — hers and Harris’ — as a way to speak to having good values and saying this is a person you can trust because she has good values. Rather than focus on policy, Michelle went deeper into the character of Harris and the guiding values she learned from her mother, as a way of humanizing her. In a world where a person’s values tell us so much about who they are, and where Trump embodies all the values we don’t want our children to adopt, this was a brilliant and emotional way of telling us that this is a person we can trust.
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The value she harped on most was that Harris knows that we should give more than we take. That we should be in service of others, and we should be opening doors for others as opposed to being a gluttonous billionaire who’s always taking for himself. Michelle, consistent with her character, was able to skewer Trump in deep ways while retaining the high road. It was a high-minded speech that called Trump a person of low character without vicious attacks. She spoke of “the affirmative action of generational wealth,” a devastating attack on the power of daddy’s money to help open doors and the blindness of thinking that only Black Americans are helped by affirmative action.
Barack Obama’s speech was yet another extraordinary DNC speech in a career full of them. He was full-throated in his attack on Trump, highlighting how he never stops whining about his own problems. Obama surprised us all by linking Trump’s obsession with crowd size to his, uh, manhood’s size. I mean, the notion isn’t a surprise, but to see the former president make a joke like that at the DNC was unexpected. But it was definitely on point.
That moment will resonate, but to me, the deeper note was likening Trump to the annoying, obnoxious neighbor who runs his leaf blower outside your window every day. We all know that guy. He’s angry. He’s loud. He’s the bane of your existence. Trump is that guy for sure. Obama said Harris is the neighbor rushing over to help when you need a hand. Which one do you want in the White House and on your TV every day?
That analogy, about the sort of neighbor each one is, tells us so much about who they are. Barack, like Michelle, didn’t skewer Trump’s specific policies so much as Trumpism — the anger and fear and division he has spread. They both looked out on this nation and saw a mood brought on by Trump that is about gluttony, selfishness and hatred. Barack called upon the better angels of our nature to break the fever. He spoke of a future where we all can be our better selves, a road out of the fury of Trump’s America and into something more hopeful.
Both of the Obamas’ speeches were a rebuke of Trumpism, as in, the values he espouses, and they were a powerful reminder that we can do better and that even when they go low, we can still go high.
Toure is a host and writer at TheGrio. He hosts the TheGrio TV show “Masters of the Game,” and he created the award-winning podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and its upcoming sequel “Being Black: The ’70s.” He is also the creator of “Star Stories” and the author of eight books, including “Nothing Compares 2 U an oral history of Prince.” He also hosts a podcast called “Toure Show.” He is also a husband and a father of two.
