Former US President Barack Obama urged voters to organize and vote for Kamala Harris in November, adapting his campaign slogan to “yes she can” during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“Kamala Harris will not be focused on her issues, she will be focused on yours,” the former president said Tuesday (this morning in Lisbon) in the most anticipated speech of the second day of the convention.
“We need a president who truly cares about the millions of people who get up every day and do important work,” Barack Obama said. “She defends her right to negotiate for better wages and working conditions. Yes, she can,” he added.
In his half-hour speech, the former Democratic leader paid tribute to Joe Biden, who served as his vice president for eight years before being elected president in 2020.
“History will remember Joe Biden as an exceptional president who defended democracy from imminent danger,” Obama said, emphasizing the altruism of giving up, “one of the rarest things in politics.”
The former president also criticized Donald Trump, saying he is “a 78-year-old millionaire who hasn’t stopped complaining about his problems since he rode up an escalator nine years ago.” Obama was referring to the image that has become associated with the moment Trump announced he was running for president after riding down an escalator at Trump Tower in New York City in 2015.
The former Democratic leader also lamented the “childish nicknames” Trump gives his opponents, the conspiracy theories he espouses and his “bizarre obsession with crowd sizes.”
He described the Republican candidate as someone who is only interested in cutting taxes for himself and his millionaire friends and doesn’t care whether women have lost their reproductive rights because it’s none of his business.
“Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to his ends,” he continued. And when the crowd booed Trump, Obama urged, “Don’t honk, vote.”
On the other hand, he says, there is a duo that could encourage the United States to tell a new story instead of choosing to continue a film that failed the first time around.
“Kamala was not born into privilege; she had to work for what she has achieved,” Obama said, recalling that the candidate defended child sexual abuse victims, fought against banking abuses and worked on behalf of property owners who lost everything in the “sub-crisis” of 2008.
“She will work for all Americans,” guaranteed Barack Obama, who received a standing ovation from convention participants.
The former politician spent part of his speech talking about the ideals on which the United States was built and the need to once again inspire voters to defend democracy.
“Our job is to convince people that democracy works,” he said. “We can’t just point to what we’ve achieved, we have to chart a new path to address the challenges that lie ahead.”
Obama went on to note that “the rest of the world is watching to see if we can do it” and that no other country has attempted to build a democracy as large and diverse as this one.
“When we stand up for our values, the world becomes a little brighter,” he said. When that doesn’t happen, dictators “feel emboldened” and the world becomes more dangerous.
Obama noted the great enthusiasm surrounding Harris’ campaign and said it showed that most Americans do not want to live in a “bitter and divided” country.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.