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Version 21 Version 22
Obama speaks on behalf of Hillary Clinton at Democratic convention – live Obama speaks on behalf of Hillary Clinton at Democratic convention – live
(35 minutes later)
4.13am BST 4.48am BST
04:13 04:48
Obama on Trump: 'not really a facts guy' What did you think of the president’s speech? Clinton’s appearance? Biden’s turn onstage? Tim Kaine?
The president now turns his attention to Clinton’s opponent. He says Trump left people feeling they were cheated, and asks, “Does anyone really believe that a guy who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion?” Was Biden better than Kaine? Was that a top-ten Obama speech?
And then there’s Donald Trump.” 4.47am BST
Boooo! 04:47
“Don’t boo,” Obama says. “Vote!” The pastor says Amen. Representative Marcia Fudge comes back out. She entertains a motion to recess till 4.30pm tomorrow. Everybody likes the idea. She gavels. And then walks rather slowly backstage, considering who’s back there to hang out with.
Applause. Obama: 4.46am BST
The Donald not really a plans guy. Not really a facts guy, either. He calls himself a business guy, which is true, but I have to say, I know plenty of businessmen and women who’ve achieved success without leaving a trail of lawsuits, and unpaid workers, and people feeling like they got cheated. 04:46
Does anyone really believe that a guy who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice? If so, you should vote for him. But if you’re someone who’s truly concerned about paying your bills, if you’re really concerned about pocketbook issues, and seeing the economy grow, and creating more opportunity for everybody, then the choice isn’t even close. If you want someone with a lifelong track record of fighting for higher wages, better benefits, a fairer tax code, a bigger voice for workers, and stronger regulations on Wall Street, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton. Here was the Obama welcome:
Updated Obama receives a hero's welcome on stage https://t.co/bb1gTvJnjZ
at 4.14am BST 4.46am BST
4.10am BST 04:46
04:10 A pastor comes out and the crowd figures out what to do. A lot of them start walking out. Many listen respectfully! Especially the ones parked upfront. But many are beating the parking lot traffic jam. Good luck, delegates – that thing is gnarly.
Here Obama moves into a section that was released earlier: “Hillary’s been in the room” (ad-lib bold): The pastor says “bedrock of love,” which reminds us we’ve failed to embed Signed Sealed Delivered. Apologies for the delay:
You know, nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis, or send young people to war. But Hillary’s been in the room; she’s been part of those decisions. She knows what’s at stake in the decisions our government makes for the working family, the senior citizen, the small business owner, the soldier, and the veteran. Even in the middle of crisis, she listens to people, and keeps her cool, and treats everybody with respect. And no matter how daunting the odds; no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits. 4.43am BST
That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman – not me, not Bill, nobody - more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States of America. 04:43
Updated Clinton and Obama hug. It’s a bear hug. The crowd screams, it’s deafening. Arm-in-arm they walk to the front of he stage. Thumbs up. The crowd is high. It’s her first appearance on this stage of the week.
at 4.11am BST The crowd exceeds its maximum capacity to cheer and then ebbs a bit and then comes roaring back.
4.08am BST They walk around some more and wave some more. That was a lot of hugging. Then they head backstage.
04:08 The crowd is temporarily stunned-seeming, milling, turning in their seats. What do they do now? Just... leave?
Obama: 4.40am BST
“Now, eight years ago, Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination.” 04:40
Somebody yells out: “Four more years!” People laugh. Obama continues: Clinton appears onstage
We battled for a year and a half. Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary’s tough. She was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, backwards and in heels. Every time I thought I might have that race won, Hillary just came back stronger. Obama gets a lot, lot of applause. The DJ finds some Stevie Wonder, Signed sealed delivered. The crowd sings along. The president takes that stroll up to the far end of the stage.
But after it was all over, I asked Hillary to join my team. She was a little surprised, but ultimately said yes – because she knew that what was at stake was bigger than either of us. And for four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment, and her discipline. I came to realize that her unbelievable work ethic wasn’t for praise or attention – that she was in this for everyone who needs a champion. I understood that after all these years, she has never forgotten just who she’s fighting for. And here comes Clinton.
4.07am BST 4.39am BST
04:07 04:39
Obama says “we are stronger together.” Is that the line he was up till 3am writing? Obama: 'the audacity of hope'
But he gets the crowd on its feet and cheering a lot, by listing all the different American groups who come together in his vision of unity. Obama rolls out a familiar phrase that is applauded with gusto:
Then this part gets a Hillary! chant going: Time and again, you’ve picked me up. I hope, sometimes, I picked you up, too. Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. Because you’re who I was talking about twelve years ago, when I talked about hope – it’s been you who’ve fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds are great; even when the road is long. Hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; the audacity of hope!
That’s the America I know. And there is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, and has devoted her life to it; a mother and grandmother who’d do anything to help our children thrive; a leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American – the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. America, you have vindicated that hope these past eight years. And now I’m ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. This year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me – to reject cynicism, reject fear, to summon what’s best in us; to elect Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States, and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation.
Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Thank you for this incredible journey. Let’s keep it going. God bless the United States of America.
4.05am BST 4.37am BST
04:05 04:37
Obama: 'not your typical election' Obama winds toward a close:
“We’re not done perfecting our union,” Obama says. Or living up to the creed, we’re all created equal. And that’s why I have confidence, as I leave this stage tonight, that the Democratic Party is in good hands. My time in this office hasn’t fixed everything; as much as we’ve done, there’s still so much I want to do. But for all the tough lessons I’ve had to learn; for all the places I’ve fallen short; I’ve told Hillary, and I’ll tell you what’s picked me back up, every single time.
“I think it’s fair to say, this is not your typical election,” Obama says. People laugh. He says there’s a “fundamental choice about who we are as a people.” It’s been you. The American people.
The parties have always had differences, he says, but there’s nothing wrong with that. “But what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican, and it sure wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision...there were no solutions. Just the fanning of resentment and anger and hate. And that is not the America I know.. the America I know is decent and generous. It’s the letter I keep on my wall from a survivor in Ohio who twice almost lost everything to cancer, but urged me to keep fighting for health care reform, even when the battle seemed lost. Do not quit.
“Sure we have real anxieties about caring for sick parents... racial divisions.. the madness in Orlando or Nice. There are pockets of America that never recovered from factory closures.” It’s the painting I keep in my private office, a big-eyed, green owl, made by a seven year-old girl who was taken from us in Newtown, given to me by her parents so I wouldn’t forget – a reminder of all the parents who have turned their grief into action.
Here a delegate stands up and starts yelling about TPP. It’s the small business owner in Colorado who cut most of his own salary so he wouldn’t have to lay off any of his workers in the recession – because, he said, “that wouldn’t have been in the spirit of America.”
“We are challenged to do better,” Obama says. “To be better.” It’s the conservative in Texas who said he disagreed with me on everything, but appreciated that, like him, I try to be a good dad.
As he travels the country, he says, what he sees more than anything is “what is right with America.” It’s the courage of the young soldier from Arizona who nearly died on the battlefield in Afghanistan, but who’s learned to speak and walk again – and earlier this year, stepped through the door of the Oval Office on his own power, to salute and shake my hand.
4.01am BST It’s every American who believed we could change this country for the better, so many of you who’d never been involved in politics, who picked up phones, and hit the streets, and used the internet in amazing new ways to make change happen. You are the best organizers on the planet, and I’m so proud of all the change you’ve made possible.
04:01 4.36am BST
Obama says change is never easy. 04:36
Texas is standing up and maybe it’s someone in Texas who is trying to say something. Obama: 'homegrown demagogues will always fail'
No Hillary No? Is that what the Texas person is saying? Obama here seems to group Trump, a “homegrown demagogue,” perhaps, though not named, with threats to the country including “fascists or communists or jihadists”:
4.00am BST America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught me – they haven’t gone anywhere. They’re as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race, and every faith. They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what’s in here. That’s what matters. That’s why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something uniquely our own. That’s why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That’s why our military can look the way it does, every shade of humanity, forged into common service.
04:00 That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.
Obama: 'I am more optimistic' than ever That is America. That is America. Those bonds of affection; that common creed. We don’t fear the future; we shape it, embrace it, as one people, stronger together than we are on our own. That’s what Hillary Clinton understands – this fighter, this stateswoman, this mother and grandmother, this public servant, this patriot – that’s the America she’s fighting for.
Obama says back in 2004 in Boston, when he made his name at the DNC, he was filled with faith in the country. 4.32am BST
Somebody is yelling something but they are shushed. 04:32
Obama continues: “I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.” Obama: 'these values could travel'
He is, he explains, because the economy has recovered, job creation is healthy, health care is now an American right, because we’re weaning from foreign oil, troops are coming home, and “we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden.” Obama tells his granparents’ story:
The “success” – in his opinion – list continues: Iran, Cuba, Paris climate deal, student loans, consumer protection, combat veteran homelessness, and marriage equality. And it’s got me thinking about the story I told you twelve years ago tonight, about my Kansas [Kansas delegation: YAY] grandparents and the things they taught me when I was growing up. They came from the heartland; their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago.
Marriage equality gets a big cheer. Obama throws in a line for run:
“By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started.” I don’t know if they had their birth certificates”
3.57am BST Obama returns to his story:
03:57 They were Scotch-Irish mostly, farmers, teachers, ranch hands, pharmacists, oil rig workers. Hardy, small town folks. Some were Democrats, but a lot of them were Republicans. My grandparents explained that they didn’t like show-offs. They didn’t admire braggarts or bullies. They didn’t respect mean-spiritedness, or folks who were always looking for shortcuts in life. Instead, they valued traits like honesty and hard work. Kindness and courtesy. Humility; responsibility; helping each other out.
Obama says his girls were young then, now “amazing young women.” And he mentions “my brilliant wife and partner Michelle,” and the crowd cheers like crazy. She “somehow hasn’t aged a day,” Obama says. “I know, the same cannot be changed for me. My girls remind me all the time. ‘Wow you’ve changed so much daddy.’ Then they try to clean it up. ‘Not young, but more mature.’” That’s what they believed in. True things. Things that last. The things we try to teach our kids.
3.56am BST And what my grandparents understood was that these values weren’t limited to Kansas. They weren’t limited to small towns. These values could travel to Hawaii; even the other side of the world, where my mother would end up working to help poor women get a better life. They knew these values weren’t reserved for one race; they could be passed down to a half-Kenyan grandson, or a half-Asian granddaughter; in fact, they were the same values Michelle’s parents, the descendants of slaves, taught their own kids living in a bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. They knew these values were exactly what drew immigrants here, and they believed that the children of those immigrants were just as American as their own, whether they wore a cowboy hat or a yarmulke; a baseball cap or a hijab.
03:56
The crowd all has stick signs reading Obama.
He’s announced. He walks out. He waves. Must be some Democrats in here by the sound of it. The president’s looking casual. Strides over to the lectern. Forgoes the trip up to the far end that Kaine and Biden took. Dang is that Coldplay? There’s all kinds of clapping and cheering. In addition to the Obama signs there are rainbow flags and some TPP signs.
Thank you, Obama says. A few times.
The clapping continues. We’ll have video of this for you shortly.
“Thank you so much everybody.”
The crowd chants:
Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
“Thank you so much everybody!”
Person: I love you!
President: I love you back!
They’s darn excited. Here now they let him start. So “twelve years ago tonight...”
3.53am BST
03:53
Any second now...
President Obama's remarks are in the teleprompter: "Hello, America. Twelve years ago tonight, I addressed this convention...
3.50am BST
03:50
The crowd here in the DNC is singing along to the video of Obama singing Amazing Grace after Charleston.
3.48am BST
03:48
This is true.
Reporters have received embargoed, prepared remarks for almost everyone tonight. Not for President Obama. (Yet, anyway.)
3.48am BST
03:48
Pressure’s on, Obama:
Aides say @POTUS has been through 6 drafts of tonight's speech over past week. Stayed up til 3AM rewriting after watching @FLOTUS speech.
Tfw you realize you can't outdo your wife. https://t.co/H9IE4lqSkl