Joking that he’s “the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama,” Barack Obama followed his wife’s celebrated speech with a barnburner of his own to bring the second night of the Democratic National Convention to an energetic end.
Building off of the momentum left in the room by Michelle Obama’s introduction, Obama spoke for around 30 minutes, working the crowd like it was a Vegas residency or a one man play, at times bringing people to tears and at others, drawing out raucous laughter.
Naturally, the former president spent plenty of time in his speech celebrating the promise of America and the strength in our country’s diversity and upward mobility. And of course linking this not only to his own unique story, but also to Vice President Kamala Harris.
He also talked at length about Donald Trump. At one point, Obama mocked Trump’s “weird obsession with crowd size,” using a hand gesture to make obvious that this was also a double entendre implying Trump is also insecure about the size of his penis.
He also called out Trump’s unrelenting name-calling and conspiracy theorizing, comparing him to “the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.”
But Obama kept things focused squarely on Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, at one point repurposing his old catch phrase to apply to her. “Yes she can,” he said, prompting the audience to begin chanting the phrase in response.
“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. Kamala will be that president,” Obama said also.
Watch that speech below:
