Search
Close this search box.

Obama’s Speech Made The Best Case For Clinton


1Eight years ago, Hillary Clinton united the Democratic Party behind Barack Obama, helping propel him to the presidency. Four years ago, when Obama was in a close race with Mitt Romney, Bill Clinton defended the president’s record in the most eloquent speech of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. At the time, Obama owed both Clintons a huge debt.

Now, after what will probably turn out to be the best speech of this year’s convention, Obama has paid Clinton back several times over.

Why was the president’s speech so effective? It’s not just that Obama personally vouched for her, though he did that plenty. “There has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president,” he said.

It was more important for Clinton and the country that Obama also defined the stakes in this election, arguing that, despite the anti-Hillary frenzy at last week’s Republican National Convention, it is not just about her. Voters have reason to be proud of how far the country has come from the depths of the financial crisis and its place in the world, he pointed out. But economic disruption, social changes and continuing fears about safety have also helped produce a reaction in the form of Trump that is tearing at the country’s political fabric.

“This is not your typical election,” he said. “It’s not just a choice between parties or policies, the usual debates between left and right. This is a more fundamental choice – about who we are as a people.”

Donald Trump, he said, is “selling the American people short. We’re not a fragile people. We’re not a frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.” In this way, Obama argued that a vote for Clinton is a vote “to reject cynicism and reject fear and to summon what is best in us,” and it rang true.

As he did so, the president cleverly argued that Republicans could vote for Clinton without turning in their conservative cards. In fact, he said, if they took their principles seriously, they would shun him. “What we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican – and it sure wasn’t conservative,” he said. “What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems, just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate.”

Obama was not the only speaker Wednesday night to argue that voters who would normally reject a Democrat must support one this year. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, I, took the stage — to tepid applause from the Democratic crowd — in order to persuade “responsible” independents to vote for Clinton. “No matter what you may think about her politics of her record, Hillary Clinton understands that this is not reality television, this is reality,” he said. Bloomberg went on to give Clinton credit for being “sane” and “competent,” because those are apparently distinguishing characteristics this presidential race.

Once the speeches were through, Clinton joined Obama on stage. The two hugged each other and waved at a roaring crowd for several minutes. The image of the two embracing summed up much of her campaign so far. Whenever Hillary has felt she needed to build credibility on the left, she rhetorically embraced Obama and reminded voters that he trusted her to serve in his cabinet. Wednesday may not be the last time Clinton invokes the president this election year. She may well continue holding onto a relatively popular incumbent in the general election.

Obama has all sorts of reasons to rally hard for Clinton. She may begin returning the president’s recent favors starting next year: Much of his legacy, particularly on climate change and health care, depends on Clinton sustaining his policies from the Oval Office over the next four years. But, as the president said, this election is not just about policy. The stakes are much bigger: Defeating Trump is a moral imperative. And he is telling the country so.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Stephen Stromberg



8 Responses

  1. No surprise here; Trump banned this left wing Jeff Bezos owned Washington Post from his pressers.
    Bezos, the Amazon billionaire, is on a mission to destroy Trump and his rag obsesses over him every day.
    Don’t forget that he supports “liberalizing” immigration so that he can pay them serf wages when they labor for him, doesn’t allow unionization and avoids paying taxes.

  2. What’s most amazing is that there are so many people in this country that fall for his words every time he speaks. If the country is so great after his (almost) 8 years why do they have to work so hard convincing people that it is. And if it is not and we need her to make it better, doesn’t she stand for what he says? So how will she make it better? What boggles my mind even more is, the amount of Jews (on here at least) are for her. There are so many things to see why they are wrong with their policy, how can you not see it? It amazes me. The end of the day “Lev melachim vesarim byad hashem” don’t ever doubt that. Just as a person with brains, how can you even defend her with a straight face. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

  3. President Obama lied through his teeth last night
    Perhaps you can check an orthodox jewish guy, who is brillian Ben Shapiro next time instead of reprinting left obama/clinton garbage.

    Barack Obama gave a real Fidel Castro-esque stemwinder of a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening, as he attempted to puff up himself and his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. But as is the norm with Obama, his speech was laced with lies. Here are the nine biggest lies that Obama told in his DNC speech.

  4. Bezos has far more money than Trump, built a business in far less time than Trump, started with nothing. Doesn’t that make him smarter than Trump?

  5. “Nobody more qualified? Not Bill not me?” That should tell you right then and there that he’s full of it. Does he really think she’s more qualified than any previous president? Really? You mean like more than Washington or Lincoln? He certainly doesn’t think she’s more qualified than the world savior Barak Husain himself. As Trey Gowdy said “he didn’t think so in 08”.

  6. I find the way this article was posted disturbing.
    It ends with the statement “defeating Trump is a moral imperative.”
    It sounded as though YWN was stating this as a matter of their own perspective.

  7. “Trump banned this left wing Jeff Bezos”

    Bezos is actually a right wing Libertarian.

    “Does he really think she’s more qualified than any previous president? Really? You mean like more than Washington or Lincoln? ”

    Fair point. There HAVE been Presidents who were both a US Senator and Secretary of State before becoming President. Their names were James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. He should have said that there has been no person as qualified in 192 years.

    “It ends with the statement “defeating Trump is a moral imperative.””

    It *is* a moral imperative, at least for those of us who care about the future of the free world.

  8. Thank you, deblasio spokesman, and hillary cheerleader, professor chuck hall for explaining to the ywn audience what our moral imperative should be. You can put your hillary pom poms away now, the convention is over.

Leave a Reply


Popular Posts