Barack Obama has often described the presidency as a relay race: “You take the baton from someone, you run your leg as hard and as well as you can, and then you hand it off to someone else.” On Tuesday night, Obama stepped on stage in front of thousands of delegates at the 2024 Democratic National Convention to anoint a party leader he hopes will carry that baton next: Kamala Harris.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Returning to the city where he made his startling political ascent, Obama roused the Chicago crowd with the soaring rhetoric that catapulted him on the national stage 20 years ago. In a nearly 40-minute speech, Obama honored President Joe Biden; championed Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz; warned of the perils of a second Donald Trump presidency; and encouraged Democrats to prepare for an arduous path to maintaining the White House.
For Obama, it was a moment that brought him full circle. He burst onto the scene as a political phenomenon when he delivered an electrifying keynote address at the 2004 convention. Now, at 63, Obama is the elder statesman hoping to galvanize the nation once again—encouraging voters to reject the man who has sought to destroy his political legacy and elevate a fresh Democratic heir: “This convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible.”
Below is a breakdown of Obama’s 2024 DNC speech.
At the outset of his remarks, Obama paid tribute to his second in command for eight years. “History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding President who defended democracy at a moment of great danger,” said Obama, who was reportedly among those who urged Biden to end his campaign following his disastrous June debate performance. (The President has reportedly begrudged Obama and other Democratic leaders for pushing him out of the race, though he denied it in his DNC speech Monday night.)
Obama, for his part, extolled Biden for making the decision that he estimates gives Democrats the best chance to defeat Donald Trump: “At a time when the other party had turned into a cult of personality, we needed a leader who was steady, and brought people together, and was selfless enough to do the rarest thing there is in politics: putting his own ambition aside for the sake of the country.”
Throughout his speech, Obama issued stark warnings that a second Trump term would pose existential risks for sustenance of American democracy and society. “Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to his ends,” he said, implying that his successor would embark on a radical, autocratic agenda. To that end, he warned that Trump deliberately wants to keep the U.S. polarized for his own political benefit. “Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided: between us and them, between the real Americans who—of course—support him and the outsiders who don’t,” Obama said.
Without ticking off the specifics of Trump’s plans, Obama suggested they would trigger a national crisis. “It is one of the oldest tricks in politics, from a guy whose act has—let’s face it—gotten pretty stale,” Obama said. “We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We’ve seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.”
The heart of Obama’s address was pitch for the Democratic presidential nominee. He extolled Harris’ record as a prosecutor and politician—serving as San Francisco district attorney, California’s attorney general, a U.S. senator, and Vice President—seeking to contrast her career in public service with Trump’s background as a real estate magnate, media personality, and political provocateur. “Kamala Harris won’t be focused on her problems,” Obama said. “She’ll be focused on yours.”
At one point, he repurposed his signature campaign line for Harris, telling delegates: “Yes, she can.”
Obama also praised Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. “I love this guy,” he said, depicting Walz as a populist who connects to average Americans. “Tim is the kind of person who should be in politics: born in a small town, served his country, taught kids, coached football, took care of his neighbors. He knows who he is, and he knows what’s important. You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some political consultant; they come from his closet.”
The party’s ticket, Obama suggested, represented the diversity of the Democratic coalition that swept him into high office twice. Together, he added, the two candidates can appeal to moderate Americans who yearn for a less divisive politics. “Kamala and Tim have kept faith with America’s central story,” he said, “a story that says, ‘We are all created equal’ … That everyone deserves a chance. That even when we don’t agree with each other, we can find a way to live with each other.”
While the convention hall was filled with the “hope-and-change” optimism that animated Obama’s political rise, he counseled Democrats to prepare for an ugly road ahead. “It won’t be easy,” he said. “The other side knows it’s easier to play on people’s fears and cynicism.”
Yet he asked his party faithful to be patient with Americans who aren’t aligned with the Democratic agenda and who resist societal changes. “If a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people,” he said. “We recognize the world is moving fast, that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up.”
That’s an approach, Obama said, that could build a “true Democratic majority.” But more than seeking electoral gain, Obama emphasized that the stakes of the election—of whether America stops Trump from reclaiming the White House—would have reverberations across the globe. “The rest of the world is watching,” he said, “to see if we can actually pull this off.”
