Alan Zendell, August 20, 2024

Either I had forgotten what wonderful communicators Michelle and Barrack Obama were, or they’ve gotten better with age. The combined hour they spent addressing the Democratic National Convention was a case study in how to control and influence a crowd. They were both brilliant.

Michelle had an advantage – the crowd adored her. I’ve lost count of how many people have said they wished she would run for office. She lived up to their adulation, addressing the delegates with elegance and respect. Her speech wasn’t just cheerleading for Kamala Harris, however. She warned the crowd that the euphoria they were feeling at that moment, seductive as it was, would end in a couple of days, and the seventy-five that followed before the election were going to be hard.

She also took some pointed shots at Donald Trump, which had to make him crazy. Consider this: while Trump was addressing a small group of people in Wisconsin, Michelle Obama had a crowd of thousands eating out of her hand and cheering at every pause. A black woman, the wife of a two-term president whose values and moral character are respected by most of the country stood at a microphone recounting Trump’s crimes and painting a picture of him as the Devil incarnate. She was beautiful and she was elegant, and exactly the right voice at the right time.

Then came Barrack. Commentators kept reminding us that it was almost exactly twenty years since his speech at the 2004 DNC that introduced him to America and launched his political career. That speech probably cemented his election as a U. S. Senator from Illinois. It definitely established him as one of the great orators of our generation, and last night’s speech did nothing to dispute that. Michelle had won over the audience, but she was addressing people who already loved her. No one  envied Barrack having to speak after his wife has mesmerized the crowd.

While Michelle aroused the crowd’s emotions, Barrack Obama addressed them like a father, mentor, teacher, and conscience. His speech was a series of skillful cadences, and the emotions of the delegates rose and fell like ship a bobbing on ocean waves. He was a brilliant showman, too, far better at it than Trump. But his best moment was reminding the crowd that winning in November would require everyone’s maximum effort, because the other side started out with a huge advantage.

Obama reminded us that Trump and his minions understand that the easiest way to arouse a crowd is by playing on its hatreds and fears, seizing on latent prejudices and convincing them that everyone else is their enemy. He took some shots at Trump, but it was different from the way Trump attacks people. Trump’s attacks are meant to belittle and intimidate. He is so brazen with his lies and insults, his opponents are often set back on their heels, because they’ve never had to deal with his sick, unfiltered, self-absorbed madness.

Obama spoke, not like a Klansman riling up a lynch mob, but like someone who really cares about America and all of us, warning us of a terrible danger in our midst. He reminded us that democracy is about each of us treating each other with humility, respect, and love. I was reminded of his first inaugural address as president in Grant Park, not far from where he spoke last night. The hope, joy, and love he showed that night, and the eloquence of his words made us believe we had matured as a nation and the road ahead would be better.

It didn’t turn out that way because Obama’s election also awakened and aroused the forces of hate and greed we thought he had defeated. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and Fox News realized that they’d simply gone underground to plan their revenge, and their greed and cynicism created the MAGA movement before anyone knew it was happening.

Mitch McConnell unwittingly made the situation worse when, in his first speech as Senate Minority Leader he said, “My job is to assure that Obama is a one-term president,” and set about obstructing everything the new administration attempted.
It wasn’t about policy or what was best for the country. It was the beginning of sixteen years of obstructionism motivated by nothing but lust for power and revenge. McConnell has since showed nothing but disdain and horror for the monster he helped create, yet he has never had the courage to openly break from the harm he enabled. If he truly cares about his own legacy, he’ll join the other Republicans who believe in democracy and the Constitution, and denounce Trump before the election.

Last night, Barrack Obama never mentioned the way Republicans impeded him as President. He didn’t whine about how unfair it was, didn’t say a single self-aggrandizing word about his own accomplishments, and welcomed any Republican who saw the danger Trump posed to join the coalition to assure he’s defeated. He lauded Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, but that wasn’t the point of his speech. Obama showed the world what true leadership, unfettered by obsessions with power, wealth, and crowd size really is.

His message was twofold. Democracy thrives on inclusion and love, on Americans working together and picking each other up when they’re down, and its mortal enemy is the hate and divisiveness that Trump thrives on. He risked bursting the balloon of optimism that has characterized the DNC by warning that fighting against hate and dissolution makes Harris and Walz underdogs, no matter that the polls seem to show them ahead. Obama’s message was clear. If we love our country, Trump must be defeated, and he must lose by a margin large enough to remove all doubt about the future Americans want.