In 2007, when Barack Obama had just announced his candidacy for the presidential election, a Californian prosecutor was one of the first to support his campaign. Some North American media even called it the “Obama woman” (the “woman Obama”). The prosecutor was Kamala Harris. This Tuesday, 17 years later, the former president came full circle from the United Center: Obama transformed the ““yes, we can”, inside “yes, she can”.
“We need a president who truly cares about the millions of people in this country who get up every day to do what's essential.” […] and fight for your right to fight for better wages and better working conditions. Kamala will be that president. Yes, she can“, Obama said from behind the lectern as the audience erupted in unison under the 'Yes, she can.
As soon as you step on stage, you feel like the stadium is over 10 years old, when Obama was still running for president. More than a minute of applause and a chorus of “Yes, we can” greeted the former president after his wife, Michelle Obama, introduced him. In her previous speech, Michelle assured that Harris “is one of the most qualified people who has ever lived to be president.” “America, hope is returning,” he said. At another point in his speech, he used his own words against Trump: “Who's going to tell you that the job you're looking for might be one of those “black jobs”?“, a term the former Republican president used in the debate against Biden.
Obama has taken on the task of completing the path that Harris' team has already charted from the beginning: reviving the memory of the 2007 campaign that made him the first black president of the United States. Harris has built a campaign based on a story that appeals to hope, an emotion that was also essential in elevating Obama to the White House. “We will elect leaders [Harris y Tim Walz] who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we believe in. And together, all of us together, we will build a country that is safer, more just, more equal, and more free. So let's get to work,” Obama said.
Obama's words referred to a collective “we” and sought to go beyond partisan support. A language very different from that used by Donald Trump at the Republican Convention, which only appealed to the unity of his own people. “We have built fences and walls around ourselves, and then we wonder why we feel so alone. We don't trust each other because we no longer seek to know each other; and in the middle of this space that separates us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature ourselves and to be afraid,” the former president denounced in a clear reference to Trump and Elon Musk, the owner of X.
Musk interviewed Trump last week via X and turned the interview into a pile of lies. In recent weeks, the social network has been under fire after it was found to have played a key role in spreading fake news and xenophobia that fueled far-right unrest in England.
The former president has passed the symbolic baton to Harris: the Democrat is the successor to the energy that enthused the country under the “Yes, we can“, and also faces the same opportunity to make history. The vice president is the formal heir to Joe Biden, who nominated her to replace him in the candidacy, but the image Harris wants to convey is that of a new cycle that picks up history where Obama left off. “America is ready for a new chapter, we are ready for President Kamala,” he defended himself. Harris worked to make Obama the first black president of the United States, and now he is doing the same so that she can become the first black woman to sit in the Oval Office. Inevitably, the former president's speech also has a strong sentimental weight for Harris.
In his speech, Obama had to find the right moment to wrap her under his cloak, but without overshadowing her. Although the label of “woman Obama” is very useful, Harris' candidacy has its own entity and it is important that it is not buried under an easy parallelism. Her singularity comes from this image of female empowerment that has been evident from the beginning and that is giving good results with women and young people.
A survey published last weekend by the Washington Post and ABC News showed Harris ahead of Trump. That's largely due to the women's vote. The poll also shows Harris has much more support than Biden among that group and among young people.
Harris has not publicly renounced Biden's political legacy, but she seeks to leave behind the gray and discouraging image conveyed by the Biden-Harris tandem. Contradictory as it may seem, Harris has been much more exciting as the electoral leader than when she was second. Biden's message for these elections was based on mobilizing the vote based on fear of Donald Trump, without focusing on building a new horizon. Harris wants to dissociate herself from this vision that has generated in Americans the feeling of having to choose “the lesser evil.” The Democrat intends to offer a bright future that promises, among other things, to end the polarization in which the country has been immersed since 2016.
“I love this guy. He’s the kind of person who should be in politics; someone who was born in a small town, served his country, taught his kids, coached football, and took care of his neighbors. He knows who he is, and that’s important,” Obama said of Tim Walz. In one fell swoop, the former president perfectly captured the image he wants to convey of Harris’ ticket partner.
Make peace with Biden
Within the Democratic Party, Obama, 63, is considered a figure of great influence. In the midst of the crisis surrounding Biden's candidacy, the former president had to finally exert his power to convince Biden to resign. Obama's turning his back on him greatly hurt Biden, who was once his vice president.
Tonight, Obama sought to heal wounds with Biden, hailing his decision to step down. “History will remember Joe Biden as a president who stood up for our democracy in a time of great danger. And I’m proud to call him my president, but even more proud to call him my friend,” he said. Biden was not in the stadium when Obama spoke those words, as he headed to California after Monday’s speech to begin a weeklong vacation.
Harris provokes Trump
The confidence with which Harris marches was also evident in her absence tonight. Instead of being in Chicago, Harris and Tim Walz were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, holding a rally at the Fiserv Forum. A total provocation to Trump, since that is where he was crowned the nominee and where his total control of the Republican Party culminated. Recently, Trump already had noted his anger at the crowd at Harris rallies. Surely, seeing how his rival filled the Fiserv would not have pleased him either.
“This is a people power campaign,” Harris said as the United Center screens connected live to Fiserv. At that point, cheers of euphoria echoed through the Milwaukee speakers, while live attendees in Chicago also cheered.
Senator Bernie Sanders also took the stage tonight, where he did not hesitate to put the war in Gaza on the table. “We must end this horrible war in Gaza. Bring the hostages home and demand an immediate ceasefire,” he said without a shadow of a doubt. The position on the war in Gaza has been one of the main criticisms leveled at Harris and will be a thorny issue heading into November 5. Yesterday More than 10,000 people protested in the streets of Chicago to bring the Gaza war to the doors of the Convention.