(AFP) – Barack Obama will use the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to anoint Kamala Harris the party’s future on Tuesday and, as the first Black and South Asian woman presidential nominee, heir to his trailblazing legacy. Obama posted on social media that his convention address will lay out “what’s at stake” and why Harris and her running mate Tim Walz “should be our next president and vice president.” The first Black American ever elected to the White House, Obama retains massive influence and is a celebrated orator. His turn will amp up the already buoyant mood in Chicago where President Joe Biden delivered his own emotional speech late Monday less than a month after ending his reelection bid.
“In 2012 I got to vote for him, and everyone was pushing Michelle Obama to run for president, but now we have Kamala. So I just think that this is, in a sense, them passing on the torch,” said attendee Tomara Hall, 35, from California. Ahead of Obama’s blockbuster keynote address, Harris’s husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will testify to his wife’s human qualities before she accepts the nomination Thursday. “Whenever she’s needed, however she’s needed, Kamala rises to the occasion,” Emhoff will say, according to speech excerpts. “She did it for me and our family… she’s showing you what we already know — she’s ready to lead.”
With the party united and Harris polling strongly, Democrats are making clear they believe they can defeat Donald Trump. The Republican nominee had seemed set to regain power in November’s election until Biden upended the race by dropping out and endorsing his vice president. Comparisons are already being made by Democratic faithful to Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, where a tidal wave of enthusiasm carried him to the White House. Bullish delegates symbolically nominated Harris as their candidate in a boisterous roll call, following a paper exercise to confirm her as their standard bearer earlier this month.
Harris, who was received rapturously in Chicago at her debut appearance before Biden spoke, was in Milwaukee Tuesday for an event at the basketball arena where Trump attended the Republican convention just a month ago. The choice of the 18,000-seat arena will rile Trump, who has been rattled that 59-year-old Harris, unlike Biden, is able to draw the kinds of crowds the Republican has long attracted to his events.
Trying to pry media attention away from the Democratic convention, Trump is holding events all week and on Tuesday spoke about what he says is Harris’s “anti-police” stance. At an event in Howell, Michigan, he attacked what he called “the Kamala crime wave.” “You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread — you get shot,” he said, flanked by police officers and their cars, falsely claiming there has been a 43 percent increase in violent crime. While allies have pleaded publicly for Trump to focus on policies and stop his barrage of personal insults against Harris, he has not stopped.
On Monday the DNC floor belonged to Biden, who delivered a swan song after being forced to abandon his reelection bid amid deep concerns that at 81 he is too old and frail to defeat Trump. Biden has recast what might have been a humiliating moment into a narrative of sacrifice, passing on the torch to his younger protege. “It’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more,” he said, wiping away a tear amid thunderous applause before embracing Harris on stage.
The other star speaker Monday was Hillary Clinton, who in 2016 was the first female presidential nominee of a major party, but lost to Trump in an election that opened up one of the most turbulent eras in recent US politics. Harris, Clinton said, will be the one to break “the highest, hardest glass ceiling” in the country. Twenty million people watched the first night of the DNC, ratings monitor Nielsen said, beating viewers for the inaugural evening of the Republican gathering that drew 18.1 million. Local media reported that Chicago hotels housing convention attendees had received bomb threats, but city authorities did not comment.
– Gregory WALTON
© 2024 AFP
