Chicago.- Barack Obama was days away from his 43rd birthday and months away from being elected to the U.S. Senate when he stepped onto a stage in Boston during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
As an Illinois lawmaker, he had an unusual profile for a presidential convention keynote speaker. But the self-proclaimed “skinny guy with a funny name” captivated Democrats that night, going beyond a speech introducing candidate John Kerry to show the nation his “politics of hope” and his vision of “an America” neither defined nor defeated by its differences.
Kerry lost that November to Republican President George W. Bush. But Obama was etched into the national consciousness, beginning a remarkable rise that took him to the Oval Office just four years later. And now, eight years into his presidency, Obama returns to the Democratic convention tonight as the elder statesman with a different task.
In his speech in his hometown of Chicago, the nation’s first Black president will honor President Joe Biden’s legacy after he left the campaign trail, while defending another historic figure, Vice President Kamala Harris. It will be a momentous moment, as he faces off against former President Donald Trump in a matchup that features the same cultural and ideological fissures Obama warned against two decades ago.
“President Obama remains the North Star in the party,” said Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who credits the 44th president with helping her become the state’s first black woman lieutenant governor.
Aside from Harris herself, who is scheduled to speak Thursday, Stratton said no voice this week is more important to moving Democrats, reaching out to independents and wooing moderate Republicans than Obama’s.
“He knows how to cross the finish line,” he said.
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who is popular enough that some Democrats have proposed her as an alternative to Biden, will also speak tonight.
Terry McAuliffe, who was the Democratic Party chairman in 2004, said Obama’s appearance on Tuesday was meant to reinforce the message of several presidents: Biden spoke on Monday and former President Bill Clinton will give a speech on Wednesday.
“They’re going to talk about what happens when you have a Democratic president,” McAuliffe said, especially about the economy. It’s Obama’s turn, McAuliffe said, to join Clinton as “explainer-in-chief,” a nod to Clinton’s 2012 convention speech when Obama was seeking reelection. The idea, McAuliffe said, is to establish Harris as the natural Democratic successor.
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