LIVE UPDATES
Former US President Barack Obama has said the United States citizens are ready for the Kamala Harris Presidency.
He spoke during the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Centre in Chicago, Illinois.
Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the partys nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago.
Barack Obama told fellow Democrats in Chicago that “the torch has been passed” to Kamala Harris and that the United States was ready for her to become president.
Former president Obama, who was greeted with rapturous applause and cheers at the packed arena hosting the party’s nominating convention, said Vice President Harris would fight for Americans, and called her November poll rival Donald Trump “dangerous.”
“Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting for people who need a voice,” he said.
Obama called Harris “someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you.”
“Yes she can,” Obama said of Harris, prompting the boisterous crowd to repeatedly chant the phrase, recalling Obama’s own “Yes we can” campaign slogan.
Before his stardust performance, his wife and former US first lady Michelle Obama told convention goers “something magically wonderful is in the air.”
“It’s the contagious power of hope,” she said, calling Harris “my girl” and saying that hope — another rallying cry of her husband’s successful 2008 campaign — “is making a comeback.”
His turn amped up the already buoyant mood in Chicago where President Joe Biden delivered his own emotional speech late Monday less than a month after ending his reelection bid.
“They shared with us how they felt, and we were able to resonate with them,” said Mae Beale who wore a hat in the colors of Maryland, her home state.
“They were so real… I could identify with everything they were saying.”
In deeply personal remarks shifting the focus onto Harris’s qualities, her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, told the convention “she is ready.”
“She brings both joy and toughness to this task,” he said to cheers.
“At this moment in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president.”
With the party united and Harris polling strongly, Democrats are making clear they believe they can defeat Trump.
The Republican nominee had seemed set to regain power in November’s election until Biden upended the race by dropping out and endorsing his vice president.
However, Obama called Biden an “outstanding president” who had “defended democracy at a moment of great danger.”
AFP
