STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Throughout the week, the Democratic Convention showcased Vice President Harris and an enormous supporting cast. Among them - Michelle Obama. The former first lady delivered a series of searing lines on Tuesday about former President Trump. In one passage, without actually naming Trump, Obama said most of us will never benefit from, quote, "failing forward or be cushioned by," quote, "the affirmative action of generational wealth."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MICHELLE OBAMA: If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don't get a second, third or fourth chance. If things don't go our way, we don't have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No.
INSKEEP: The people watching that speech include our former colleague, Michele Norris, who's a friend of Michelle Obama, a writer for The Washington Post, longtime observer of politics and one of my favorite people to bring on. Michele, good morning.
MICHELE NORRIS: (Laughter) Good morning, Steve. So good to be with you.
INSKEEP: Some Republicans, as you know very well, call Kamala Harris a DEI hire. I hear the former first lady saying back there, actually, your candidate is the one with special privileges.
NORRIS: Well - and that's exactly what she was doing in her role. As you say, she was part of the supporting cast. She was a supercharged surrogate, both teeing up energy in the convention, but saying things that is interesting. Kamala Harris that night didn't talk about race in quite the same way that Michelle Obama did - and then later, Barack Obama did. And she was drawing a very sharp contrast with a woman who has come from middle-class roots, who has spent her life in public service, who has worked hard, as Kamala Harris says, for the people and has clawed her way forward with someone who is essentially the boss's son.
And it was interesting in that clip that you played, the use of those six words, the affirmative action of generational wealth - such a powerful statement in reframing, you know, the debates that we've been having about inequality and affirmative action, which is usually served up as this idea that people of color are getting something that they don't deserve. And in this case, she was talking about the fast-track, easy-pass benefits that some Americans enjoy from birth without using words that make people feel on edge or defensive or uncomfortable. She was talking about white privilege without actually using those words.
INSKEEP: It became an argument not just about race, but about class in that sense, didn't it?
NORRIS: Absolutely, absolutely. She really understands convention speeches. And, Steve, it's been interesting to watch her evolve in this role. If you remember four years ago when she was speaking at the convention on a video because convention was unusual in that case...
INSKEEP: Oh, yeah.
NORRIS: ...Because we were still going through COVID, you know, you were starting to see her speak more honestly. In that convention speech, the phrase that everyone remembers was, it is what it is, you know? And so there's been this evolution from the year that she coined that famous phrase when they go low, we go high...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
NORRIS: ...To it is what it is, talking about Donald Trump, and in this case, you know, using really pointed language to push back at someone who has criticized her family, who she sees as a danger to American democracy right now.
INSKEEP: Can I just note that - I mean, it's obvious the presidential candidate is a woman. There were women prominently highlighted throughout every night of this convention, many of them last night. What do you think that says about the Democratic Party in the country?
NORRIS: It says the Democratic Party is inclusive. If you watched three minutes of the convention, you would see that contrast in - you know, when looking at the RNC convention just a few weeks earlier. This is now Kamala Harris' party, and this is a new day in American politics.
INSKEEP: Michele Norris hosted NPR's All Things Considered for many years and now writes for The Washington Post. Michele, thanks for coming by.
NORRIS: Always good to be with you, Steve.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARC DE SOLEIL'S "GOT CAUGHT IN AMSTERDAM") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
