Wednesday on CNN, anchor Jake Tapper commented on former President Barack Obama’s speech on the third night of the Democratic convention.
Anchor Wolf Blitzer said, “We have just seen a unique moment in American history. The first woman of color formally becoming, officially becoming the Democratic presidential— vice presidential nominee. That’s the first time that has happened in American history. We also saw a truly unprecedented moment. The former president of the United States, Barack Obama, delivering a scathing, a scathing attack against the current president of the United States. President Trump.”
“This was a moment that we anticipated,” he continued. “That this would unfold, but not to the degree that it has unfolded. I’ve been watching President Obama, for example, since 2004 deliver speeches. This may have been the most powerful address he ever gave, a presidential address to the nation, not only strongly supporting the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, right now, but going after the sitting president of the United States. And, Jake, you don’t see that very often. I’ve studied American history a long time. I don’t remember a time when the immediate past president was going after the sitting president the way he did.”
Tapper said, “No, I agree, and I’ll talk about President Obama in a second, but, first, I don’t think we can overstate how significant a moment it is for the girls and women and people of color in the United States and around the world watching this event tonight, what an historic moment for Kamala Harris, the Senator from California, to get the party nomination for vice president. It really is truly historic. And one of these moments that is going to change people’s lives and inspire people because of the groundbreaking nature of that. In terms of the contents of her speech, it was interesting. She introduced herself to the American people. There was a lot of very progressive messaging going on there in terms of systemic racism and ideas like that. For the younger people, for the progressives, I think, that the Democrats need to turn out, talking more about problems in America than about problems with President Trump. I think she only mentioned Trump by name once.
“On the other hand, perhaps, she thought she didn’t really need to go after him, given all the work that President Obama did going after Donald Trump, basically saying that democracy is at stake,” he continued. “As you noted, Wolf, it was an unprecedented speech to have the immediate past president go speak at a convention and talk about basically this is a four-alarm fire. You have to defeat this guy. And, Dana, I mean, I don’t know that this has happened at any time in the last, you know, half-century.”
Analyst Dana Bash said, “No, I mean, President Obama made clear he believes that this is an existential threat. And when I say this, he was talking about his successor, the man in the White House right now.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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