DNC Convention Night Two: Michelle Obama says, “DO Something!”

When Michelle Obama was growing up, her mother would tell her, “Don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something!‘”

Michelle turned to the Democratic Delegates at the Chicago Democratic Convention and said, “So consider this your official ask. Michelle Obama is asking, no, telling you, to do something!” We don’t need four more years of bluster and chaos.”

“Something magic is in the air,” she said. “In America, hope is making a comeback.”

She laced into Trump, saying, “his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.”

“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?” she said.

41,000 at simultaneous rallies

It was an amazing night for superstar Democrats. Kamala Harris simultaneously ran two rallies 80 miles apart. In Milwaukee, she hosted 18,000 people at the Fiserv stadium. She took a break with a live greeting to the 23,000 Convention delegates at the United Center in Chicago. Her total live audience was a combined 41,000 people.

An Arizona Republican elected official endorsed Harris (gasp!) Mesa Mayor John Giles urged Republican voters to support Harris from Tuesday’s DNC stage. “It’s OK to vote against Donald Trump,” he said.

Barack Obama first electrified his party at the Democratic Convention 20 years ago. “Trump wants you to think that you’ll be richer and safer if you will just give him the power,” Obama said in his keynote address. “It is one of the oldest tricks in politics from a guy whose act has, let’s face it, gotten pretty stale.”

“We do not need four more years of bluster, bumbling, and chaos,” he continued. “We have seen that movie before and know that the sequel is usually worse.”

“I believe that’s what we yearn for – a return to an America where we work together and look out for each other. A restoration of what Lincoln called, on the eve of the Civil War, ‘our bonds of affection.’ An America that taps what he called ‘the better angels of our nature.’ That’s what this election is about.”

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an advocate of in vitro fertilization rights, told Republicans to “stay out of our doctor’s offices.” She struggled with infertility for ten years before she gave birth to two daughters: Abigail, born in 2014, and Maile, born in 2018.

“How dare the GOP endanger the dreams of countless veterans whose combat wounds prevent them from having kids without IVF. It’s simple: every American deserves the right to be called ‘Mommy’ or ‘Daddy’ without being treated like a criminal.”

Duckworth walked on two aluminum legs from a combat injury. I remember when I was a Democratic PC in Illinois, and I set up special parking for her at two fundraisers at my house.

Lawyer and First Gentleman Doug Emhoff warmed our hearts, telling his love story with Harris. He was set up on a blind date with Harris but called her at 8:30 am and left a long, rambling voicemail. Kamala did call back; they had a lively first date and got married. Thursday, August 23, is their 10^th anniversary (the same day she accepts the Presidential nomination!) She saved the voicemail, “and she makes me listen to it on every anniversary,” drawing laughs and cheers from the crowd.

“Kamala is a joyful warrior. She is as tough as it comes,” he said. In a warning to Trump, he added, “She can smell fear.”

The Arizona Delegation, with AZ Sen. Priya Sunderation, US Sen. Mark Kelly, and AZ Dems Chair Yolanda Bejarano: