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Former first lady Michelle Obama solidified her position as one of the Democratic Party’s most effective speakers during her opening address on the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. His words have once again served as a reliable barometer for what Democrats think about the country’s leadership.
She accomplished this by building on the themes of her iconic speech at the 2016 DNC convention. At the time, Obama urged a crowd in Philadelphia to recognize how great America is – but this time around, she raised the stakes, arguing urgently that America can only be great if Americans exercise their right to vote. This shift in focus – even more than the fact that the usual convention crowd has been replaced by the calm of the Obama household – illustrates how much America has changed in four years.
In 2016, Obama’s speech went viral for his quick interpretation of what it means to be the greatest person in the face of hate: “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t lean in on him. level. Our motto is, when they go low, we go high, ”she said in 2016. This phrase made headlines and was stuck on T-shirts.
On Monday, Obama reminded viewers of the need to take the high road, despite the unprecedented challenges that 2020 has posed, saying, “Going high is the only thing that works, because when we go down low – when we use those same degradation tactics and dehumanizing others – we are just part of the horrible noise that drowns out everything else. We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes for which we fight.
Obama called on Democrats to summon Trump’s will to triumph
Obama, acknowledging that the United States is struggling under the weight of multiple crises, refined his 2016 perspective this year – arguing that fighting and going high are not mutually exclusive. She has been explicit about what she sees as the stakes in the 2020 election.
“Going high means being fierce against hate while remembering that we are a nation under God, and if we are to survive we must find a way to live together and work together through our differences,” she said. declared. “And going high means unlocking the chains of lying and mistrust with the one thing that can truly set us free: the cold hard truth.
In 2016 Obama didn’t mention Trump at all, but in 2020 she called the president by name: “Let me be as honest and clear as possible. Donald Trump is not the right president for our country, ”she said. “He’s had more than enough time to prove he can do the job, but he’s clearly over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He just can’t be the one we need for us.
Obama’s direct criticism of Trump contrasts sharply with his reserved criticism of him in 2016 when she said, “Don’t let anyone tell you this country is not great. That somehow we have to make it awesome again. Because it is currently the largest country in the world ”, an evolution which speaks of the consequences of the first four years of the president, and which gave a voice to the urgency felt by many Democrats in the face of the possibility of a second Trump mandate.
She also approached the crisis of systemic racism more directly, going beyond its acknowledgment to describe its effects – and to position her speech as an example of how this system could be combated.
In 2016, she said the history of this country is built on the backs of slaves, noting, “I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves,” but went further on Monday when referring to the impact of slavery and how its legacy continues to divide the country. “I understand that my message will not be heard by some people. We live in a deeply divided nation and I am a black woman speaking at the Democratic Convention. “
The way to fight Trump and create a more ideal America, Obama argued, is ultimately through voting – this was a theme Obama reported in 2020: In his 2016 speech, she said the word ‘vote’ Once; in 2020, she said it 12 times.
“Now is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or to play games with candidates who have no chance of winning,” Obama said. “We have to vote early, in person if we can. We need to get our ballots in the mail right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow up to make sure they’re received. And then, make sure our friends and families do the same.
Overall, Obama’s change in tone and message highlighted the failures of the Trump administration – and reminded his audience that a second Trump term would mean those shortcomings would continue to have a disproportionate effect on American life. By highlighting the issues, she renewed the meaning of the “high road”, redefining it as requiring the participation of all American citizens rather than mere grace.
“If we are to keep the possibility of progress alive in our time, if we are to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we must reaffirm our place in American history,” said Obama.
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