Obama's full circle: From 2004 convention star to key supporter of Harris

Aug. 20, 2024, 5:21 a.m.

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Barack Obama was on the cusp of turning 43 and just a few months away from being elected to the U.S. Senate when he took the stage in Boston at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

As an Illinois state legislator, his profile was unconventional for a keynote speaker at a presidential convention. Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed "skinny kid with a funny name" captivated Democrats that night, going beyond a mere endorsement of nominee John Kerry to introduce the nation to his "politics of hope" and vision of "one United States of America" not defined or diminished by its differences.

Kerry ultimately lost that November to Republican President George W. Bush. However, Obama etched his name into the national consciousness, embarking on a remarkable ascent that led him to the Oval Office just four years later. Now, eight years removed from the presidency, Obama returns to the DNC on Tuesday night as a seasoned leader with a different mission.

Speaking in his political hometown of Chicago, the nation’s first Black president will honor President Joe Biden’s legacy after his exit from the campaign while making the case for another historic figure, Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s poised to be a significant moment as she takes on former President Donald Trump in a matchup that features the same cultural and ideological fissures Obama warned against two decades ago.

"President Obama remains a guiding light for the party," stated Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who attributes her historic achievement as the first Black woman lieutenant governor to the 44th president's influence.

Beyond Harris herself, Stratton emphasized that Obama's voice will be crucial this week in energizing Democrats, attracting independent voters, and persuading moderate Republicans to support their agenda.

“He knows how to get across the finish line,” she said.

Obama's two decades in public life have been punctuated by impactful speeches. His body of work encompasses a spectrum of tones and purposes – a collection of choices as he strives to strike the right chord for Harris as she seeks to become the first woman, second Black person, and first person of South Asian descent to hold the presidency.

In 2004, Obama seized the opportunity presented by Kerry and then-Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe, blending lofty ideals with storytelling, humor, and his personal narrative as the son of a Black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.

“Let’s be honest, my presence here is quite extraordinary,” Obama stated to delegates and a nationwide television audience.

McAuliffe, however, remembered Obama as an obvious rising star. “I’d known him … done events for him” as he ran for U.S. Senate, McAuliffe said in an interview. Still, no one could have foreseen Obama’s performance and the reaction — because he’d never been on such a stage.

Advertisement “It was an electrifying moment,” McAuliffe remembered. “It undoubtedly set the stage for his success as the nominee and candidate in 2008.”

In 16 minutes — shorter than a typical nomination acceptance, inaugural address or State of the Union — Obama recounted his journey, framed the 2004 election, and enthusiastically promoted Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards. While Obama touched on policy, his scathing critique of divisive politics resonated deeply with the audience.

“There is no liberal America or conservative America; there is only the United States of America. There is no Black America, White America, Latino America, or Asian America; there is only the United States of America,” he declared in one of his most memorable speeches. “Will we engage in cynical politics or politics fueled by hope?”

Two-and-a-half years later, Obama returned to this theme when he launched his presidential campaign in front of thousands of supporters gathered in Springfield, Illinois. His campaign slogan: Hope and Change.

Austin Davis, the first Black lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, remembers watching Obama's 2008 campaign as a high school student. “That moment resonated with me,” Davis said, “and helped me believe that I could achieve things like this.”

While idealistic and even vague themes helped Obama reach the White House, it was his hard-nosed political skills and pragmatic approach that secured his victory.

In March 2008, Barack Obama, then a presidential candidate, faced criticism for his close relationship with his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who had a history of speaking out against America's past of racial injustice. One particular controversy involved a video clip of Wright saying “God, Damn America” from the pulpit of Obama's church.

This time, powerful speeches wouldn’t suffice. Obama painstakingly crafted a nearly 38-minute address detailing his relationship with Wright, placing it within the broader context of U.S. history and race relations in the early 21st century.

“I cannot disavow him any more than I can disavow the Black community,” Obama stated, while rejecting Wright’s “view that considers white racism as ingrained and that emphasizes what is wrong with America over all that we know is right with America.”

The speech, titled “A More Perfect Union,” was rich in subtle nuances – a risky strategy in presidential politics. However, it proved to be successful.

Obama’s convention address that August certainly featured his characteristic promises of hope and change. The venue and crowd — 84,000 people in the Denver Broncos’ football stadium — affirmed his celebrity status. Another takeaway, though, was Obama’s blitz on Republican nominee John McCain. Having spent weeks resisting calls from Democrats to go after the Vietnam war hero, Obama hammered the Arizona senator as a rubber-stamp for the outgoing Bush administration, out-of-step with most Americans and weak on the world stage.

During his speech, Obama pointedly remarked, “John McCain often claims he would follow (Osama) bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.”

This speech would foreshadow Obama's most pointed and critical address, his 2020 appearance at the Democrats' virtual convention. Speaking on behalf of Biden, his former vice president, Obama presented a stark and uncompromising critique of Trump's fitness for the presidency. This was the most scathing condemnation of a sitting president by a former president in recent American history.

“This administration has demonstrated its willingness to undermine our democracy in order to win,” Obama said, nearly five months before Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

McAuliffe highlighted that Obama's speech on Tuesday is part of a larger effort to reinforce the message of multiple presidents. Biden spoke on Monday, and President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

“They’re going to talk about what happens when you get a Democratic president,” McAuliffe said, especially on 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 set up Harris as the natural Democratic successor.

For her part, Stratton said she expects to see the man she has seen connect with voters individually and en masse. A volunteer on Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, she remembers the then-president visiting his campaign’s Hyde Park office in Chicago on Election Day.

“He was humorous and relatable” as he shook hands with volunteers and then started contacting voters himself, she remembered.

Four years earlier, Stratton and her four daughters were among the throngs in Chicago’s Grant Park for Obama’s first presidential victory speech. “Strangers were hugging and crying,” she said. “We saw this Black family come out, knowing they were headed to the White House. It was a remarkable moment.”

On Tuesday, she said, there is space for Obama to bring heat on Trump, talk directly to American voters and honor the magnitude of Harris’ moment.

“He was a groundbreaking candidate and president. He understands what this is like,” Stratton stated. “There will be this special moment of the first Black president passing the torch.”