Michelle Obama is making a moral case against Donald Trump

Repeating her role as “the closer” – this time for former Vice President Joe Biden at the opening night of the convention – Obama spoke as the wife of a former president who “the immense weight and tremendous power” of it presidency has seen up close. She spoke as a mother trying to teach empathy and instill “a strong moral foundation” in her daughters. And she spoke like an American painfully “to hurt so many people” at a time when the coronavirus has claimed more than 170,000 lives in the US and thrown millions into unemployment.

On a night when many convention speakers, including four Republicans, trying to convince Americans of all political beliefs that they should choose country over party, Obama threatened to right-wing them over wrong, reminded their audience that they hate politics and asked all their listeners to “voice and fear” close “and open her heart. Those who do, she said, “know that what is happening in this country is just not right.”

“If you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things can not be less, trust me, they can; and they will if we do not make a change in this election. If we hope “To end this chaos, we must vote for Joe Biden, as our lives depend on it,” she said in a pre-carpet address.

“Let me be as honest and clear as I can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” said the former first lady, who accused the president of downplaying the virus, halting racial tensions, divorcing families at the border and exposure almost no empathy for the grief and loss that so many Americans have experienced.

She had harsh words for the president’s ridiculous attempt to label protesters protesting Floyd’s death as “THUGS”, presenting a threat to the way of life of Americans and calling him to coddle white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia . And she blamed Trump for refusing to acknowledge the racism inherent in American policing as a “never-ending list of innocent people of color continuing to murder,” while still ridiculing the simple fact that a black life is concerned. e the nation’s highest bureau. “

Children of America, she said, “see our leaders label fellow citizens enemies of the state while emboldening torch-bearing white supremacists. They look in horror as children are snatched from their families and thrown into closets, and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful Protestants for a photo-op. Unfortunately, this is America that is visible to the next generation – a nation that underperforms not only on matters of policy, but on matters of character. “

Children of America see this White House fostering greed, a “right that says only certain people belong here” and the notion that “winning is everything, because as long as you get above it, no matter what happens to anyone else,” Add Obama.

“He’s had more than enough time to prove he can do the job, but he’s clearly over his head. He can not satisfy this moment. He just can not be who we need him to be,” he said. they before calling for Trump’s blunt response when asked about life lost by coronavirus in this country: “It’s what it is.”

Obama wrote the speech with the assistance of a speechwriter and practiced it for weeks and the comments were “incredibly personal to her,” an Obama assistant told CNN. While the speechwriter helped, the former first lady clearly knew what she wanted to say, despite wanting to prevent her from dipping her toe back into politics, the aide said.

Obama sought to serve as a character witness for Biden, making an explicit contrast between Trump and the man who served alongside her husband for eight years. They noted that the job of president “requires clear judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a dedication to facts and history, a moral compass and an ability to listen,” adding that a president must believe that every life in this land has “meaning and value.”

Biden understands the losses many Americans face, she said, because he has lived some of his own life – from the days when Biden’s father struggled to care for his children, to the loss of his first wife and young daughter in a car crash in 1972, to his grief and anguish, his son Beau Biden lost at age 46 to brain cancer just five years ago.

“Every time we look to this White House for some leadership or comfort or any semblance of stability, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and complete lack of empathy,” Obama said.

“Joe knows the pain of sitting at a table with an empty chair. That’s why he gives his time so freely to grieving parents,” she continued. “His life is a testament to coming back, and he will channel that same grit and passion to lift us all up, help us heal, and lead us forward.”

Perhaps Obama’s most famous quote came during her 2016 convention speech – “when they go low, we go high.” During Trump’s presidency, she said, many people asked “if others go so low, does high really work?”

“My answer: going high is the only thing that works, because when we go low, when we use the same tactics of humiliating and dehumanizing others, we just become part of the ugly noise that drowns everything else,” she said. . “We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes we fight for.”

At a time when the U.S. Postal Service is being attacked and there are lawsuits and legal hurdles thrown across the country that would restrict the right to vote, Obama is urging its listeners to vote early, in person as “our mail-in to request ballots at the moment, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow up to make sure they are received “and then make friends and family the same.

“We need to pack our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a dinner from a brown bag and maybe even breakfast, because we have to be ready all night to stand in line when we have to,” she said.

They urge Democrats to march the same level of passion they did in 2008 and 2012 and pleaded to leave no doubt about the margin of the election: “Vote for Joe Biden in figures that cannot be negeare. “