Last night was night three of the Democratic
National Convention and former President Barack
Obama gave what was, by all reasonable assessments,
a very solid DNC speech in support of Joe
Biden and Kamala Harris and very strongly
going after Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
I mean, listen, you don't have to think he
was the best president.
You don't have to think that Joe Biden is
the best candidate.
But Barack Obama did not show up with kid
gloves in criticizing Donald Trump.
You're going to see clips in a moment.
But Donald Trump within minutes, if not seconds
of Barack Obama's speech starting was completely
and instantly triggered, starting to send
out outrageous tweets in all caps.
More the behavior of a child, really, than
an adult, never mind an adult who happens
to be the president of the United States.
You can imagine the scene, Trump sitting at
the White House.
Obama comes up on his screen and starts dismantling
Donald Trump, pointing out his failings and
his fundamental lack of capacity for the job.
Piece by piece by piece.
Trump grabs his phone, turns on caps lock
as so many Trump ists often do when it's time
to tweet.
And then tweets.
He spied on my campaign and got caught, referring,
I guess, to the supposed biggest political
crime in history, which I can't even say it
with a straight face, which we still haven't
gotten the details of or been able to identify.
And then just moments thereafter, as Barack
Obama continues speaking in full sentences
and putting together coherent thoughts, which
is a very unusual thing from a president at
this point in time.
Trump tweets again with caps lock still engaged.
Why did he refused to endorse Slow Joe until
it was all over?
And even then was very late.
Why did he try to get him not to run?
So the second part, why did Obama try to convince
Joe not to run?
That's B.S..
But the reason Barack Obama decided not to
endorse Joe Biden or anybody during the primary
was the calculation.
And arguably, it's a politically astute calculation
that if Barack Obama gets involved in the
primary and then whoever he supports doesn't
end up being the nominee, it could end up
being divisive and it could end up hurting
Barack Obama's ability to then endorse and
campaign for the eventual nominee.
It's a political calculation.
You can disagree with it or not, but that's
all it is.
Barack Obama's priority was and is to defeat
Donald Trump.
And Barack Obama made the call.
He's a better player in that cause by staying
out of the primary and getting involved in
support of the eventual nominee, which is
what he did.
There's really nothing controversial there.
But if you want to go in that direction, we
should ask the question, why hasn't George
W. Bush gotten involved at all in helping
Donald Trump get reelected?
And, of course, George W. Bush is not supporting
Trump in the sense of publicly, as we've heard
in a statement from a staffer of George W.
Bush's and certainly is not helping Donald
Trump get reelected.
What about that?
That is a question that should be asked.
Now, Barack Obama's speech was followed during
night three of the DNC by vice presidential
pick Kamala Harris, Democratic senator from
California, and Donald Trump also triggered
by her and tweeting a radically still with
the caps lock engaged saying, quote.
But didn't she call him a racist, referring
to Kamala and Joe Biden?
Didn't she say he was incompetent?
Some clips from Barack Obama's speech that
went right after Donald Trump.
This is probably part of the moment that most
triggered Donald Trump.
Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because
he can't.
And the consequences of that failure are severe.
One hundred and seventy thousand Americans
dead.
Millions of jobs gone.
While those at the top taken more than ever.
Our worst impulses unleashed our proud reputation
around the world badly diminished.
And our democratic institutions threatened
like never before, Obama treating Trump almost
like a little kid, saying I you know, I had
hopes that he would take the jobs.
It's like the the hopes were so pathetically
low.
People were hoping Trump would take the job
seriously and he didn't.
People were hoping Trump would grow into the
job.
And he didn't.
And then Barack Obama continuing.
I never expected that my successor would embrace
my vision or continue my policies.
I did hope for the sake of our country that
Donald Trump might show some interest in taking
the job seriously.
That he might come to feel the weight of the
office.
And discover some reverence for the democracy
that had been placed in his care.
But he never did.
For close to four years now, he has shown
no interest in putting in the work.
No interest in finding common ground.
No interest in using the awesome power of
his office to help anyone but himself and
his friends.
Also going after the Trump administration
on the basis of their playing very fast and
loose with democracy.
Work will continue long after this election.
But any chance of success depends entirely
on the outcome of this election.
This administration has shown it will tear
our democracy down if that's what it takes
for them to win.
So we have to get busy building it up.
By pouring all our efforts into these 76 days.
So overall, Barack Obama's speech was fine.
It emphasized Donald Trump's failings and
the Constitution.
The weight of the office of the presidency
and the responsibility that comes with it.
I think it was a good speech.
I actually think Michelle Obama's speech on
Monday night resonated more in terms of sort
of lighting a fire about the acute nature
of this situation.
The emergency of a total deficit of morality
and decency and empathy in the White House.
So in a sense, certainly Barack Obama, a master
orator.
Michelle Obama also a great speaker.
But I actually thought that overall, maybe
Michelle Obama's speech was better suited
for communicating the urgency of the situation.
Although, listen, I miss hearing complete
sentences from a president.
We heard complete sentences from Barack Obama.
This is how low the bar is.
I miss hearing coherent thoughts expressed
in those complete sentences.
And we heard some from Barack Obama.
And, you know, we're really talking about
details now.
Now, last thing about the Obama speech.
Barack Obama mentioned that even when the
democratic system appears not to work.
Our ancestors, our predecessors, maybe better
said, still managed to use those arguably
flawed system successfully to effect change.
This was this didn't get a lot of attention
from the speech.
It is so poignant right now.
So I want to play this is about 90 seconds
from Barack Obama's speech.
Listen very closely to what he says here.
I think this is really crucial, what we do.
Echoes through generations.
Whatever our backgrounds, we are, all the
children of Americans who fought the good
fight.
Great grandparents working in firetraps and
sweatshops without rights or representation.
Farmers losing their dreams to dust.
Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos
told go back where you come from.
Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs made
to feel suspect for the way they worshiped.
Black Americans chained and whipped.
And hanged.
Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters.
Beaten for trying to vote.
If anyone had a right to believe that this
democracy did not work and could not work,
it was those Americans, our ancestors, they
were on the receiving end of a democracy that
had fallen short all their lives.
They knew how far the daily reality of America
strayed from the mid.
And yet, instead of giving up.
They joined together and they said somehow,
some way we are going to make this work.
We are going to bring those words in our founding
documents to life.
This is so key right now because we are trying
to fix a problem with a system that we don't
have huge confidence in, postal service, voter
suppression, reducing early voting.
If all the stuff we've been covering and we're
saying we have a real problem that we've got
to fix.
But part of the problem needs to be fixed
with a system that is part of what needs repair
as well.
Will a broken system allow us to actually
fix it?
And Barack Obama very poignantly says presciently
says if anyone had a right to believe that
this democracy didn't work and could not work,
it was our ancestors, those Americans who
were on the receiving end of a democracy that
fell short.
And he said they knew how far the daily reality
of America strayed from the myth of America.
And they didn't give up.
They didn't bail and say screw it.
They joined together and said, let's figure
out how to make this work.
That applies to this situation, which is we
have to use a system that Donald Trump has
manipulated for his own gain to get him out.
And the answer is.
You know what I'm going to say?
We have to so overwhelm the vote that the
ways Trump has fixed and by fixed, I don't
mean repaired.
I mean sort of rigged.
The election will not be enough to put him
in the Oval Office for an additional four
years.
We have to figure out how to do that.
We can use this system to remove Trump.
We just really have to come out in force.
And a little bit later on, we are going to
talk about how 2016 is.
Nonvoters are looking at this election.
Very interesting.
So that was night three of the DNC.
Join me tonight for night for the final
night
of
the DNC
