The Tribune

Chicago, Illinois — When California attorney general Kamala Harris began campaigning for a US Senate seat in 2016, many people noticed something right away. Another Californian recalled that “Harris was the female version of Barack Obama. She was trim and good looking. She spoke clearly, forcefully, and without any particular accent. Her hair looked normal. No braids or wild curls, nothing that would draw critical attention. And her skin was kind of café-au-lait, like Obama’s. This black woman was not at all scary.”

The rest is history. But in recent weeks the comparisons with Obama have returned. USA Today wrote about it this week: “Like Obama in the early days of his campaign, Harris is breaking fundraising records, energising previously sluggish voters, attracting pop stars and drawing massive crowds in the summertime months when many people are on vacation. Both their fathers have PhDs in economics and have a sister named Maya. And Harris has a unique first name, too.”

“And they are very similar in the way in how they do politics. It is very relational, with an air of joy,” said a Democratic strategist who served as Obama’s national African American vote director in his successful 2012 reelection bid.

“They’re both trailblazers, and they both have risen to power at a time when the country was at a crossroads,” said a consultant who also served as a senior advisor to the Biden-Harris campaign in North Carolina during the 2020 election.

There’s another similarity. Both Obama (in 2008) and Harris (now) are poised to basically take over from Joe Biden. If timing is everything in life, Biden must really be shaking his head this morning, wondering what in the world he did wrong to get aced out by two of the more spectacular politicians to have crossed the American political stage in recent memory.

The fact that Obama and Harris both happen to be black and the product of interracial marriages seems to be, charmingly, somewhat coincidental. Or not. In her memorably brilliant and incisive speech on Tuesday evening, Michelle Obama reminded Donald Trump that maybe the US presidency has become a “black job.”

The convergence and possible continuum of the Obamas and Harris was vividly on display Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center here in Chicago.

The evening actually began, and continued for several occasionally excruciating hours, as a fairly insipid exercise. Appearing on stage were the grandsons of Presidents John F Kennedy and Jimmy Carter (now nearing his 100th birthday). Stand-ups and interviews dotted the landscape just outside the United Center where various hopefuls for jobs in a new Harris administration extolled her virtues while excoriating Trump, his administration and his current campaign.

As a sellout crowd settled into their seats, various speakers offered either brief personal reminiscences of friendship with Harris or indictments of GOP efforts in Alabama and potentially elsewhere to outlaw in vitro fertilisation. Nothing special there, and in fact the IVF issue feels like an exaggerated scare tactic by the Democrats in an attempt to build on and expand the abortion issue.

Then, for 78 excruciating minutes, a “ceremonial” roll call was conducted by a balding, bespectacled distinctly unglamorous fellow from New Jersey who serves as the secretary of the national Democratic Party. Fifty states plus various other elements of the contemporary American empire (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Virgin Islands, etc) dutifully recast votes that had officially been recorded two weeks earlier to ensure that Harris would be the nominee. An MC provided musical accompaniment that enchanted some in the audience.

There were two things that were particularly noteworthy about this roll call. One was the prevalence of women leading their states in declaring their allegiance to Harris-Walz as the nominees. The second was the small but noticeable number of “present” votes recorded for delegates who would not agree to join their colleagues in enabling the party to register their state’s support for Harris as unanimous.

Some of this dissent may be attributable to the lingering resentment of Biden’s mostly unqualified support of Israel in its overwhelming response to Hamas’ sneak attack back in October. Protests about the continuing war in Gaza continued near the convention site, but may be making news more in the absence of alternative controversies than for any other reason.

Meantime, Harris and Walz were at a rally in nearby Milwaukee before 15,000 fans that was cleverly simulcast to the national convention in Chicago. Various other luminaries offered in-person remarks, including crusty Vermont senator and real-life socialist Bernie Sanders, and the feisty Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth, crabbing up to the podium on two war-ravaged legs fitted with prostheses to deliver several wry zingers in the direction of Trump and the GOP.

But what followed was worth the lengthy wait.

Speeches by Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, Michelle Obama and finally Barack Obama were sensational, and maybe transformative for this campaign.

Emhoff, who in an earlier life and during an earlier marriage had crafted a very successful career as a litigator in Los Angeles, offered to the crowd and millions watching on television a clearly loving and admiring portrait of his wife.

Coining the phrase “joyful warrior” to describe his bride of ten years with whom their honeymoon phase has obviously not yet worn off, Emhoff came across as unabashedly a fan of his wife. He talked, charmingly, about their first date; about how Harris has faced down bullies, and of her determination to stand up for the downtrodden.

It was great theatre. Unassuming in manner but assured in his delivery and content, Emhoff gave evidence of how he succeeded in courtrooms. If there were any lingering doubts about his ability to serve as a real asset in the campaign to come, there can be none now.

Then, at 10.40 eastern time, Michelle Obama took the stage and, after a memorable, powerful and incisive speech, introduced her husband.

These two are one of the great power couples of the modern American political era. And they complement each other surprisingly well.

Michelle produced and delivered an outstanding oration by almost any imaginable standard. Poised, still beautiful and admirably articulate, she commanded the stage with her presence and with her words.

And those words eviscerated Trump, a man she clearly dislikes and despises. The contrast between the Obamas and the Trumps, and now by obvious extension between Harris-Emhoff and the Trumps, should be one of the most consequential determinants of this November’s election.

Michelle and Barack, both strong and confident individuals, no doubt have their issues as a couple. But in public on Tuesday evening, their love and mutual respect shone through. A partnership endures that sustained them and their family – and the Democratic Party – through eight often tumultuous years in the White House.

Michelle’s mother lived with them in the White House, charmingly and often quite visibly. Michelle talked about recently losing her mother. She compared her own mother’s influence with the influence of Harris’s mother as they raised their now-famous daughters. Michelle several times referred to “the outrageous power of hope”, and the dream her and Harris’s mother had shared that America could provide the setting for a dream fulfilled for their daughters.

“No one,” Michelle said pointedly with an unspoken jab at Trump and his nativist rhetoric, “has a monopoly on being American.” She said, in a later direct reference to Trump and his MAGA followers, that “we simply deserve so much better”.

But like her husband later on, Michelle warned that “no matter how good we feel tonight, we must remain vigilant. We must stand up for what we know is right. And above all, when we are outraged by some if the things (Republicans) will say about us Democrats, we must not slump down in discouragement on the sofa. We have to do something”.

Following that, as Barack Obama said, was tough. Unlike his wife, he delivered heartfelt praise for Biden and his decision to step down. Noting that “a lot of Americans don’t believe government can help”, Obama said that Biden had disproved that.

Looking a bit older at 63 than many recall, Obama still has the magic on a stage with microphone in hand. He’ll be an asset in the coming weeks.

“We’ve seen the Trump movie before,” he concluded. “We all know the sequel is always worse.”