Barack and Michelle Obama surprised many viewers by going after Donald Trump in their convention speeches.
The former first lady famously declared at the 2016 Democratic National Convention that, "When they go low, we go high," but she and the former president took direct aim at the Republican nominee's character flaws, antidemocratic tendencies, and even his sexual insecurities rather than focus on rallying the Obama coalition around Kamala Harris.
"I think in some ways what Barack Obama was doing last night, and Michelle Obama, were doing last night, though, kind of undermining some of Trump's strengths in those places by contributing to the notion that he's not strong," said CNN's Kate Bedingfield, a former White House communications director under president Joe Biden.
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"There's absolutely a gender gap in this race and we see that men, especially young men, are a key pillar of Trump's support," she added. "Some of what I think the Obamas were doing last night was sort of trying to erode that by painting him as not this strongman, he's not this big, scary threat. He's actually, you know, sort of sad, pathetic – he only cares about himself."
Conservative commentator Shermichael Singleton had been surprised that the former president didn't speak directly to younger Black men, a group that the Trump campaign has targeted, and working-class whites, many of whom voted for Obama but moved over to Trump in the last two elections.
"So I take your point that there sort of less of this affirmative layout," Bedingfield said, "but I actually think that what they were doing is sort of eroding some of Trump's strength, and on this question of working class whites, I mean, you had Michelle Obama painting Donald Trump as somebody that doesn't know the value of a hard day's work, doesn't understand what it's like to be a working person, has the benefit of generational wealth, has had things handed to him."
"So in some ways I think that what they were doing is quite smart, subtle, by kind of going at some of those strengths that we see Trump has with the electorate," she added.
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