In the keynote speech closing the Democratic National Convention opening night, former First Lady Michelle Obama framed the choice in the upcoming election to be besides Joe Biden, a man who has the emotional base and maturity to relate to Americans, versus Donald Trump, a person who has failed at the job of president because he lacks empathy and the mental ability to handle the job.
“I am one of the few people alive today who have seen first hand the immense weight and the awesome power of the presidency, And let me once again tell you this: The job is hard,” Mrs. Obama said. “It requires clear headed judgement; mastery of complex and competing issues; a devotion to facts and history; a moral compass and an ability to listen; and an abiding belief that each of the 330 million lives in this country have meaning and worth.”
“You simply cannot fake your way through this job,” she noted. “As I’ve said before, being president doesn’t change who you are; it reveals who you are.”
Mrs. Obama recalled that after Obama and Biden left office, the US had the longest streak of growth in history and more people had health insurance than ever before.
“Four years later, the condition of this country is very different,” she described. “More than 150,000 have died and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long.”
Mrs. Obama noted that the Trump White House hasn’t led in hard times, instead blaming others for the problems that should have been handled by the federal government. “Because whenever we look to this White House for leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy.”
Obama noted that empathy is missing from this president and this White House. She described the dystopian America the nation has become because of the lack of empathy for others: “Yelling at grocery stores for wearing a mask. Calling the police because of the color of someone’s skin. They see only some people are entitled to be here, because greed is good and winning is everything because as long as you come out on top, it doesn’t matter what happens to anyone else.”
“They see our leaders labeling fellow citizens ‘enemies of the state’ while emboldening torch-bearing white supremacists,” Mrs. Obama noted, taking words from Trump’s speeches. She noted that the government has now become one where children are separated from parents, and tear gas and rubber bullets are used on peaceful protesters for a photo op.
“And I know that regardless of our race, age, religion or politics, when we close out the noise and the fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what’s going on in this country is just not right,” Mrs. Obama said This is not who we want to be.”
“The only thing that can truly set us free: the cold hard truth. So let me be as clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” Mrs. Obama asserted. “He has had more than enough time to prove he can do the job but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
She finished the thought with, “It is what it is,” the saying Trump spoke to brush off the 150,000 people who died from the coronavirus.
Mrs. Obama noted that many Americans won’t hear what she was saying. She said she’s often asked about her trademark phrase, “When they go low, we go high.” She said that continuing this is vital, but it will be harder. Democrats, she said, must always be the better person. It’s the only way to raise our entire country.
But the big message from Michelle Obama was one repeated throughout the night: Joe Biden must be elected to change the course of our nation.
“If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don’t make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it,” Mrs. Obama said. “I know Joe. He is a profoundly descent man, guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science.”
Mrs. Obama recalled that Joe Biden had overcome a lot in his life, including the death of his first wife and daughter in a car crash in his first term in Washington, the death of his son Beau to cancer, and overcoming a severe childhood stutter that he helps others beat–even giving his phone number to children who struggle with the condition.
“Now Joe is not perfect, and he’d be the first to tell you that. But there is no perfect candidate, no perfect president,” Mrs. Obama said. “And in his ability to learn and grow, we find in that the kind of humility and maturity that so many of us yearn for right now.”
It was an obvious allusion to Trump’s immaturity, brashness and self-serving ego.