"By every measure, she has demonstrated that she's ready," the former first lady told a rapt audience. "The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?"
With the race virtually deadlocked, Obama, a reluctant political campaigner, said she was in the mid-western battleground heeding her own advice to "do something" to support Harris's bid to be the country's first female president.
In raw and strikingly personal terms, she asked why Harris was being held to a "higher standard" than her opponent. Trump's handling of the Covid pandemic and his failed attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election should alone be disqualifying, Obama argued. But now the people who worked closest with him when he was president - his former advisers and cabinet secretaries - had stepped forward with warnings that he should not be allowed to return to power.
"I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump's gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn," Obama said.
The event in Kalamazoo, which Obama referred to as "Kamala-zoo", was her first appearance on the campaign trail this election, after delivering a rousing speech at the Democratic national convention in August. To a predominantly female audience, Obama said voters should not choose Harris because she's a woman but "because Kamala Harris is a grownup - and Lord knows we need a grownup in the White House".
When Obama finished, Beyoncé's Freedom thundered from the loudspeakers and Harris emerged on stage. The women - the first black first lady and the first black vice-president - embraced, and the crowd erupted.
With 10 days left, Harris pledged to be a president who listened to the American people, unlike her opponent, whom she accused of "looking in the mirror all the time".
This story is from the October 28, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the October 28, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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