Spousal Support
In 2004 in Boston, I was part of a group of Bloggers who were credentialed to cover the DNC. In a small, drab hotel meeting room, our welcome breakfast featured a couple of speakers, including a young, soon-to-be senator named Barack Obama. Later that week, that same speaker gave a keynote speech that captivated his party and in many ways still drives it. At each subsequent convention, pundits, experts, and observers have wondered, “Who will be this year’s Obama.” The question is easy to answer in 2024: It’s Michelle Obama. I was in the building for her husband’s 2004 address and I still think Michelle Obama may have given the best speech I’ve ever seen at a convention. Even Barack Obama began his remarks by saying, “I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.”
Michelle Obama strayed a bit from her famous line, “When they go low, we go high,” and delivered a few effective lows. “Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we bankrupt the business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We don’t get to change the rules, so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top.” And Barack Obama delivered a few blows of his own, including a [crowd] size joke gesture that hit right below the belt. But it’s very worth noting that both of the Obamas also aimed some strategically placed shots toward their fellow Democrats. Michelle Obama on the habit of Democrats to pile on and eviscerate their allies when the going gets tough: “We cannot be our own worst enemies. No. See, because the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right. And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.” And even more importantly, Barack Obama addressed cancel culture and the contempt we often feel (and display toward) our political opponents. “To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices. And that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. After all, if a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people. We recognize that the world is moving fast, that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up. Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they’ll extend to us.”
I’m hardly immune, but there’s just too much hate and contempt in modern politics. If a group of people feel looked down upon, maybe it’s worth wondering why instead of giving them more reason to feel that way. It’s not just that this contempt is unhealthy for our society, it’s also counterproductive when it comes to the name of the game: attracting votes. You can’t beat divisions with divisiveness. You can’t beat hate with more hate. You can’t overcome what you’re convinced is the terrible reality about your fellow Americans by furiously screaming about them from a distance.
+ Here are the two speeches in full: Michelle Obama … Barack Obama.
+ Maybe the night’s MVP was whoever came up with the idea to combine the usually boring roll call with a DJ playing songs associated with each state. Here’s what your state chose. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris accepted her party’s official nomination while addressing one packed arena in Chicago from another packed arena in Wisconsin. Two full arenas. No AI. I hope someone locked down the ketchup at Mar-a-Lago.
