Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night told the Democratic National Convention that “America is ready for a new chapter” and “we are ready for President Kamala Harris.”
“And Kamala Harris is ready for the job,” said Obama, who preceded the vice president’s Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, in the White House.
Obama, who left office after two terms, blasted Trump as he contrasted the Republican with Harris.
“This is a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago,” Obama said, referring to Trump’s announcement of his presidential candidacy in 2015 in Trump Tower in New York.
“The childish nicknames and crazy conspiracy theories and weird obsession with crowd size,” Obama said, drawing widespread laughter from the convention audience in Chicago. “It just goes on and on.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago.
Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
But Obama argued, “Kamala Harris won’t be focused on her problems – she’ll be focused on yours.”
“Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion,” Obama said.
The former president said that Harris, while working as a prosecutor in California, “stood up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse.”
“As Attorney General of the most populous state in the country, she fought big banks and for-profit colleges, securing billions of dollars for the people they had scammed,” he said. “After the home mortgage crisis, she pushed me and my administration hard to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement.”
Obama also praised Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“I love this guy,” Obama said, before cracking: “You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some consultant, they come from his closet, and they’ve been through some stuff.”
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