6 Famous Jewish Women Explain Why Michelle Obama Rocked Her DNC Speech
Michelle Obama acknowledges the crowd before delivering remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Image by Getty Images
By Josefin Dolsten July 26, 2016
Social media users sang Michelle Obama’s praises for her Monday night speech at the Democratic National Convention, in which she strongly endorsed Hillary Clinton’s run for president.
In the speech, Obama spoke of the importance of caring about the future of the next generation and said Clinton was “the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children.”
In a widely quoted part of the address, Obama dealt with both the United States’ history of racism and progress.
“…I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” the First Lady said. “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.”
Obama also alluded to Republican nominee Donald Trump, slamming his slogan “Make America great again.”
“So, look, so don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again,” Obama said.
Here’s what Jewish social media users had to say about the speech:
Journalist Julia Ioffe took a stab at Melania Trump, whose speech at the Republican national convention last week was revealed as partly plagiarized from an earlier speech by Michelle Obama. In April, Ioffe’s profile of Melania Trump lead to her husband’s supporters bombarding her with anti-Semitic death threats.
Weird. Was hoping to hear something about Michelle’s childhood in Slovenia. #DemsInPhilly
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) July 26, 2016
New York Magazine writer Rebecca Traister shared an article in which she wrote that Michelle Obama “eviscerated” Donald Trump.
On the ingenious (and scathing) elegance of Michelle Obama: https://t.co/bjt4YCngCt
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) July 26, 2016
Journalist Rachel Sklar suggested Ivanka Trump take notes from Obama.
I hope @IvankaTrump watched Michelle Obama’s speech.
— Rachel Sklar (@rachelsklar) July 26, 2016
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Anne Appelbaum called Obama’s address “the speech of the year.”
here, if you live in the wrong time zone and missed it, is the speech of the year. https://t.co/jKXcoFrsWL
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) July 26, 2016
Singer-songwriter Regina Spektor gushed about Obama’s speech on Twitter.
Michelle’s speech was incredible! What a beautiful soul/woman/leader/mother. @FLOTUS made everyone proud! Please vote and protect our kids!?
— regina spektor (@respektor) July 26, 2016
Jerusalem-based writer Noga Tarnopolsky seemingly hinted at Melania Trump’s speech, although Obama did enlist the help of Jewish speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz to compose her remarks.
And she wrote it without any help! https://t.co/2q11laLL0c
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) July 26, 2016
Contact Josefin Dolsten at [email protected] or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
