Barack and Michelle Obama Bring Down the House at DNC and Throw Support Behind Kamala Harris

Two spouses of former and current top Democratic Party brass captivated the crowd gathered at Chicago’s United Center on Tuesday, as Mr. Kamala Harris, aka First Gentleman Doug Ernhoff, and former First Lady Michelle Obama spoke from their hearts, only to be overtaken by one of the party’s all-time superstars, former President Barack Obama.

Ernhoff brought a smile to viewers’ faces as — after recalling his childhood in New Jersey where he would attend Hebrew school — he told the undeniably charming story of his and the vice president’s first date, where they spoke by phone over their lunch breaks and he became enamored with Harris’ infectious laugh.

“America, in this election, you have to decide who to trust with your family’s future. I trusted Kamala with our family’s future. It was the best decision I ever made,” Ernhoff told the party.

After Ernhoff left the stage, the clock in Chicago struck Obama’s o’clock. 

Michelle Obama gave the rousing speech Democrats would expect from the former first lady, who has gained a major following and is perhaps one of the most liked and trusted individuals in the nation — which is why it was so satisfying to watch her deliver the best zinger of the convention so far. 

While referring to a comment Trump made in Chicago two weeks ago at the National Association of Black Journalists conference about undocumented migrants taking so-called “Black jobs,” the former first lady asked, “Who’s going to tell him that the job he is currently seeking might be one of those Black jobs?” 

The crowd at the United Center absolutely erupted at the jab, but it didn’t deter from Michele Obama’s succinct and forceful endorsement of the candidate of the hour. She also evoked her late mother, Marian Robinson, in an emotional flourish that contrasted against her otherwise cheekily forceful speech, which saw her adopt a scolding teacher’s demeanor as she insisted everyone listening vote this November. 

“Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And, she is one of the most dignified — a tribute to her mother, to my mother, and to your mother, too,” she said.

After finishing her rare moment in the spotlight, Michelle Obama seemed elated to be able to introduce her husband, former President Barack Obama. The hometown hero and perhaps, until the past few weeks, the hands-down MVP of the Democratic Party, Obama used his return to the DNC stage (where in 2004 he set his career trajectory with an unforgettable keynote speech) to remind the party why he is remembered as one of their greatest orators.

On Tuesday, once the applause of his rock star’s welcome died down, Barack Obama did it again with a full-throated endorsement of Harris, an evisceration of Trump and a few good gags and call-backs to his political career.

“It’s one of the oldest tricks in politics — from a guy whose act has gotten pretty stale,” he said, referring to Trump. “We don’t need four more years of bluster and chaos. We’ve seen that movie — and we all know that the sequel’s usually worse.”

On a few occasions, Obama pulled laughter from the awestruck crowd, calling out Trump’s “weird” obsession with crowd sizes, his “crazy” conspiracy theories and “childish nicknames” for his competition.

“It just goes on and on and on,” he said. “The other day, I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.”

He soon moved on to Harris, eliciting chants of “Yes she can!” as he explained Harris’s appeal, evoking the descriptions of Harris’ career achievements that have been described throughout the convention’s two days.

“In this new economy, we need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country who wake up every day to do the essential, often thankless work to care for our sick and clean our streets and deliver our packages — and stand up for their right to bargain for better wages and working conditions,” he said. “Kamala will be that president.”

The dazzled crowd looked on and cheered as Obama spoke of the international community’s watchful eye on the U.S. election and in conclusion, evoked the work that needs to be done to ensure Harris takes the White House this fall. 

“We’ll elect leaders up and down the ballot who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we believe in. And together, we too will build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal and more free,” Obama said to a growing roar of cheers. “So let’s get to work!”

Following a bumpy and, at times, exhilarating opening day into a late night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention — which saw President Joe Biden’s emotional keynote speech pushed out of primetime by the pitfalls of live TV — night two of the DNC, dubbed “A Bold Vision for America’s Future,” also featured speeches from First Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other key figures of the Democratic Party.

A trio of well-known and pretty well-liked white politicians took to the podium midway through the second night of the Democratic National Convention with Schumer, Sanders and Chicago Gov. Jay Robert “JB” Pritzker treating the crowd to their signature takes on the state of politics, the threat of a second Trump administration and the woman of the hour, Harris.

Schumer, who served with Harris in the Senate while she was representing her home state of California on Capitol Hill, sang her praises as a champion of families and building an economy that can help Americans thrive. He also praised his own prediction that the Democrats would retain the Senate in 2022 and predicted that the party would keep that majority and pick up a few seats this November. He may be right, as public poll figures from FiveThirtyEight show GOP leads sinking in some key races since Harris moved up the ticket.

“More than half of our candidates are candidates of color. We’re making the Senate look like America now,” Schumer declared as he segued into a discussion of the body’s make-up and GOP’s contribution to it. “Senate Republicans pretend to care about middle-class families, but they voted no on expanding the child tax credit and JD banks didn’t even show up to vote Senate. Republicans pretend to care about the border, but they voted no on the strongest border bill in a decade. Republicans tend to care about freedom, but they voted no on a woman’s right to choose, no to safeguard IVF, no to birth control. Then that is just the case of their extreme agenda. Is that what we want for America?”

Sanders managed to remind the crowd how he ignited a movement behind his 2016 and 2020 candidacy for the presidency, evoking the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when the Biden-Harris presidency took shape and they implemented a plan to carry the nation out of those dark days.

“We passed the American rescue plan, which provided $1,400 for every man, woman and child in the working class. We extended and expanded benefits for the unemployed. We provided emergency assistance with small businesses to stay open, we guaranteed health care coverage for millions of Americans for one of the largest expansions of Medicaid in history,” Sanders told the captive crowd.

“Thank you, President Biden. Thank you, Vice President Harris,” Sanders said. “Thank you, Democratic congress. Now I say all of this not to relive that difficult, but to make one simple point: when the political will is there, the government can effectively deliver for the people of our country.”

Pritzker, who has led Illinois since 2019, took an opportunity to dunk on Trump and his billionaire status, which he called into question. The governor, a former businessman, is the wealthiest politician currently in office, with an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion.

“Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich. But take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing, stupidity,” he said. “I meet with business leaders all the time, and there’s one universal thing, they all need: people. They need more workers to fill all the jobs they have. But the anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away.”

The Trump-bashing continued as Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a war veteran, called the former president “a five-time draft dodging coward.”

On Tuesday, the DNC caught some flack for pushing Biden so far back on Monday, a day that a convention staffer tells The Hollywood Reporter was meant to be about celebrating the president’s lifetime of public service, in addition to capturing the energy around Harris. Also dropped from the schedule: House members Grace Meng (NY) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and James Taylor, the top musical guest for the first day at Chicago’s United Center. Now it’s unclear if Taylor will return; Politico reports that a Harris campaign official spent the day on the phone with Democrats scheduled to speak asking them to trim their remarks, but convention officials aren’t indicating that a course correction is underway to reign in some of the speeches.

“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people. We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage,” DNC officials told THR.

Following the formal opening of the convention on Tuesday, remarks were heard from Jimmy Carter’s son and Pennsylvania Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta; the latter was tasked with discussing what has become a frequent sword against the GOP for the Democrats: Project 2025. Also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, the Heritage Foundation initiative lays out a series of conservative and right-wing policies, and is billed as “a policy agenda, personnel, training and a 180-day playbook” to be implemented “on day one” by the next Republican president. The Harris campaign is tying the plan to Trump at every mention, as are several speakers at the convention.

“It is a radical plan to drag us back. They broke the middle class and raised prices on working families like yours and mine. Under Project 2025, a family making just $75,000 a year with just two kids will pay 1800 bucks more in federal taxes,” Kenyatta stated. “No, no, no, but there’s more because on page 465, Project 2025 would stop Medicare from negotiating to lower the price of prescription drugs and capping out-of-pocket costs.

“It’s our turn to make sure democracy doesn’t die on our watch,” he added. “It’s our turn to make history, my friends, by electing Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States of America.”

The official Roll Call, where states pledge their votes in a ceremonial show of support, began around 7 p.m. CT. If the DNC planners wanted to cut for time, this time-eating tradition could be a strong choice for the axe. States and delegates deserve moments in the convention spotlight — but does Lil John? The rapper appeared when Georgia was called and treated the stadium to his 2013 hit “Turn Down for What.” Yes, it was fun and unexpected to see the rapper (and former Celebrity Apprentice and All-Star Celebrity Apprentice star), but it went on for a few beats too long. However, it did give everyone a little taste of what went down at the Democratic Party of Georgia’s “Southern Soul Party,” the hottest event in Chicago this week, according to Politico. Viewers also got a glimpse of legendary filmmaker Spike Lee when representatives of New York cast the state’s votes.