Michelle Obama and her husband, former US President Barack Obama gave resounding endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday night.
Greeted with a rousing welcome, the former first lady criticised Republican candidate Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric as a “limited and narrow view” of the world.
“Why would any of us, accept this from anyone seeking our highest office? Why would we normalize that type of backward leadership? Doing so only demeans and cheapens our politics,” she said.
“It only serves to further discourage good, big-hearted people from wanting to get involved at all. America, our parents taught us better than that. And we deserve so much better than that.”
Obama echoed his wife’s conviction that there was “no other choice than Kamala Harris and Tim Walz” for the November presidential poll.
He urged the 50,000 attendees at the convention not to be complacent about politics and called on Americans to embrace Harris for president.
However, both the Obamas warned of a difficult fight ahead.
”If we work like we’ve never worked before, if we hold firm to our convictions. We will elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and Tim Walz as the next vice president of the United States,” said Obama.
If Harris wins the election she will become the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to be elected US president.
Obama, who was the US’ first Black president, told delegates that the United States was “ready for a new chapter” and a “better story” than Trump could offer.
“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” he said.
“We will elect leaders up and down the ballot who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we all believe in, and together we too will build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal, and more free.”
The couple urged Democrats to turn out in large numbers to vote in the November election which will pit Harris against Trump.
With the former president retaining a tight hold on his loyal base of supporters, it is expected to be a tight race.