'Hope is making a comeback.' Obamas storm the national stage: DNC Day 2 takeaways

CHICAGO – Barack and Michelle Obama arrived at the 2024 Democratic convention Tuesday with a message: Yes we Kam!

Speaking to a raucous crowd that hung on every utterance, the Chicago couple brought into focus the values at stake and their belief in how Vice President Kamala Harris is uniquely ready to turn the page and become America's next president.

"I'm feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible," Barack Obama said, alluding to his line during the 2004 Democratic convention about being a "skinny kid with a funny name."

Democrat's most notable political pair haven't kept it a secret about what they are feeling about the possibility of Republican Donald Trump returning to power.

Barack Obama expressed fear, through surrogates, for instance. Michelle Obama admitted being "terrified" at the prospect, which she alluded to Tuesday. But Harris' candidacy gives the country a chance to "vanquish the demons of fear, division and hate," the former first lady said.

"America, hope is making a comeback," Michelle Obama said.

With President Joe Biden's swan song out of the way, the Obamas capped off a night where Democrats attempted to sketch out Harris' views, her upbringing and her policy goals while sharpening their message on what the fall campaign should be about.

A particular bullseye is being put on Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation's agenda blueprint that progressives have hammered as what will happen if the GOP retakes the White House. Trump has sought to distance himself from the group's platform and turn the conversation back to Harris' views and record.

Much like Monday there was a contrast between the upbeat musical rollcall to nominate Harris inside the United Center and confrontational street protests outside the arena, namely Chicago police arresting half a dozen activists outside the Israeli consulate in a demonstration against the war in Gaza.

Here are the highlights from day 2 of the DNC convention.

'It will be a fight': Obama rips Trump, uplifts Harris

The Obamas are the most popular figures in Democratic politics, and the pair showed why on Tuesday. They shook the United Center from start to finish while tearing into Trump and uplifting Harris' potential presidency.

Barack Obama returned to the stage that two decades ago gave birth to his own historic candidacy as the nation's first Black president. He first talked about his former vice president, Joe Biden, who he described as his brother.

"History will remember Joe Biden as a president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger," he said. "I am proud to call him my president, but even prouder to call him my friend."

The 44th president then moved to the GOP nominee, who he ridiculed for engaging in "childish nicknames and crazy conspiracy theories and (a) weird obsession with crowd size." He described Trump as a leader, "whose act has gotten pretty stale," but also as a "dangerous" person should he return to the White House.

"We don’t need four more years of bluster and chaos," Obama said. "We’ve seen that movie — and we all know that the sequel’s usually worse."

Harris was offered up as the antidote in Obama's roughly 30-minute speech. He said Democrats cannot rest on past accomplishments, including his 2010 healthcare overhaul, but must not demonize Trump's supporters.

"Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they’ll extend to us," he said.

Rather, his party, and the Harris campaign, must show "democracy can actually deliver," adding how the rest of the world is watching to, "see if we can actually pull it off." But voters have a task as well by asking who will fight for them, who is thinking about their and their children's future, he said.

"Kamala will be that president," Obama said.

Michelle Obama says something 'magical is in the air'

Michelle Obama also electrified Democrats in her speech, which made a forceful case for Harris and eviscerated Trump.

“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?” Obama said after taking the stage. “We’re feeling it in this arena but it’s spreading all across this country we love. A familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for too long."

Speaking from her hometown of Chicago, she said Democrats feels the “exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day” but also warned the party not to get complacent, calling it an “uphill” fight to beat Trump in November.

Michelle Obama told Democrats to “do something” to help Harris win the election, drawing a chant of “do something” from delegates in the room.

“We only have two and a half months, ya’ll, to get this done,” she said.

The speech felt like part two of Michelle Obama’s famous DNC speech in 2016 in which she introduced the line, “When they go low, we go high.”

She said Harris and she both learned the same lessons from their mothers about hard work and sacrifice and loving their neighbor.

“Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment,” Obama said. “She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And she is one of the most dignified – a tribute to her mother, to my mother, and probably to your mother, too."

Perhaps most memorably, Michelle Obama tore into Trump – who famously launched his political career by spreading the “birther” conspiracy targeting Barack Obama's citizenship years ago.

Michelle Obama said Harris understands that most Americans “will never be afforded the grace of falling forward.”

“If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance,” Obama said. “ If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. We don’t get to change the rules so we always win."

"My husband and I sadly know a little something about” the attacks that Trump has leveled on Harris, she said.

“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black,” Obama said.

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

Lil Jon, Spike Lee spice up rollcall

When Democrats opted for a virtual rollcall vote to formally nominate Harris earlier this month, some in the party worried one of the biggest traditions of a party convention might be taken away.

But the DNC managed to have some fun Tuesday night anyway even if was just a symbolic vote to mark Harris’ nomination.

A convention DJ cued up different music selections for each state’s delegation as they announced their delegates committed to Harris.

Eminem’s “Lose yourself” was picked for Michigan. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” for New Jersey. For Tennessee, it was Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”

Harris’ home state of California had Tupac’s “California Love” playing before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California’s delegates, putting her over the top.

But to really spice it up, rapper Lil Jon made a cameo appearance for the Georgia delegation with his 2002 rap hit “Get Low.” The Harris campaign has played off the song’s famous lyrics with a twist to tout Harris’ running mate Tim Walz: “To the widow … to the Walz.”

Film director Spike Lee appeared with the New York delegation, and actor Sean Astin, star of the classic "Rudy" joined the Indiana group.

After Harris was announced as the official Democratic nominee, the VP took the stage at a campaign rally in nearby Milwaukee.

“They have just completed their roll call,” Harris said. “And they have nominated Coach Walz to be the next vice president and president of the United States of America.”

The DNC roll call vote was near unanimous – all for a nominee who didn’t receive a single vote during the Democratic primary.

Dems keep making Project 2025 their boogeyman

Democrats continued their assault on Project 2025, the policy blueprint of the conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation, seeking to tie the agenda to Trump.

Trump has sought to distant himself from Project 2025 – which contains controversial proposals to limit access to abortion pills and eliminate the Department of Education, for example – but Democrats want him to own it.

"Usually Republicans want to ban books, but now they’re trying to push this down our throats," Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic state representative from Pennsylvania and nominee for state auditor, said on the convention stage. "It’s a radical plan to drag us back, bankrupt the middle class and raise prices on working families like yours and mine."

The Heritage Foundation’s "Mandate for Leadership," published in April 2023, was created as a wish list of policies for Trump to pursue if elected to a second president.

Among a host of sweeping changes, it seeks to overhaul several federal government agencies including the FBI, cut federal funding for climate research, create new work requirements for foods stamps, slash efforts to reduce student loan debt and reduce the capital gains tax.

The playbook calls for the reinstatement of a Trump executive order augmenting a president's power to hire and fire federal officials by replacing civil servants with political appointees throughout government.

“Their Project 2025 agenda is the same old same old: gut overtime pay, cut health care programs and give billions in tax breaks to billionaires,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. “We cannot let that happen, and we will not let that happen.”

The DNC showcased “pension warriors” who worked in government, arguing their pensions would be in jeopardy under Project 2025.

Trump has said he has “no idea who is behind” Project 2025, but the plan was produced by more than 100 former Trump administration officials. Project 2025's Director is Paul Dans, who served as the U.S. Office of Personnel Management chief of staff in the Trump administration.

GOP exiles make the case for Kamala Harris

Trump's populist takeover of the Republican Party hasn't been without resistance. Some have refused to support his third bid for president, including Mike Pence, his former vice president.

But it has also earned him some GOP opponents willing to jump the fence and Democrats were eager to exploit that throughout the night. They played video testimonials from voters who may have backed Trump in the past, but avowed to oppose the former president in 2024.

On the convention stage Tuesday, other notable figures echoed that sentiment, such as former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House press secretary.

Grisham told the crowd as one of his closest advisors she was "true believer." But after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol she resigned. "I couldn't be part fo the insanity any longer," she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Barack and Michelle Obama boost Kamala Harris: DNC Day 2 takeaways