I love the remote format of the Democratic National Convention. We all get to hear and see the speakers without the pauses and interruptions by the obnoxious, annoying applause lines. The speeches conclude before we get bored to death. It really has been a welcomed tight, concise and watchable experience this time.

Michelle Obama - It lived up to my expectations. I expected her to express her personal experience with a serving POTUS. I also expected her speech to be as a loyal Democrat for Joe Biden. The speech didn’t offer as many profound insights as I believe the speech of General Colin Powell did.

My review so far is as that is is extremely well done with great content and excellent graphics. I too liked Michelle Obama’s speech very much. The DNC virtual convention is first-class in every possible way.

Colin Powell’s endorsement of Biden was tremendous. Bill Clinton’s endorsement was also very good, but Bill is aging and his voice sounded diminished compared with many years ago. Same with Jimmy Carter.

The fact that there were many long-time Republicans endorsing Biden was very powerful. Chuck Hagel, Colin Powell, John Kasich and others made solid pleas to dump Trump.

The young woman who lost her 69-year-old father because he believed Trump’s lies about Covid19 was an extremely compelling appeal to get rid of Trump.

Jill Biden showed what a great first-lady should be like and her speech was beyond outstanding.

If you are a Democrat you are very likely to have your commitment to vote Biden firmly reinforced. If you are a Republican, you are either watching it of Fox or not watching it all.

I do not watch Fox, but CNN had one pro-trump reporter on their panel who managed to express a few negative observations. I would imagine Fox had no anti-Trump reporters and plenty of pro-Trump commentary.

So, the DNC is mostly “preaching to the choir” but hopefully enough undecided, independent, and even some undecided Trump-leaning voters will be watching and influenced enough to vote Democratic this election to turn the tide blue this November 3rd.

Here is her speech along with a transcript. I imagined rousing applause after her speech — and several applauses during the speech as well.:

Transcript: Michelle Obama's DNC speech

Good evening, everyone. It's a hard time, and everyone's feeling it in different ways. And I know a lot of folks are reluctant to tune into a political convention right now or to politics in general. Believe me, I get that. But I am here tonight because I love this country with all my heart, and it pains me to see so many people hurting.

I've met so many of you. I've heard your stories. And through you, I have seen this country's promise. And thanks to so many who came before me, thanks to their toil and sweat and blood, I've been able to live that promise myself.

That's the story of America. All those folks who sacrificed and overcame so much in their own times because they wanted something more, something better for their kids.

There's a lot of beauty in that story. There's a lot of pain in it, too, a lot of struggle and injustice and work left to do. And who we choose as our president in this election will determine whether or not we honor that struggle and chip away at that injustice and keep alive the very possibility of finishing that work.

I am one of a handful of people living today who have seen firsthand the immense weight and awesome power of the presidency. And let me once again tell you this: the job is hard. It requires clear-headed judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a devotion to facts and history, a moral compass, and an ability to listen—and an abiding belief that each of the 330,000,000 lives in this country has meaning and worth.

A president's words have the power to move markets. They can start wars or broker peace. They can summon our better angels or awaken our worst instincts. You simply cannot fake your way through this job.

As I've said before, being president doesn't change who you are; it reveals who you are. Well, a presidential election can reveal who we are, too. And four years ago, too many people chose to believe that their votes didn't matter. Maybe they were fed up. Maybe they thought the outcome wouldn't be close. Maybe the barriers felt too steep. Whatever the reason, in the end, those choices sent someone to the Oval Office who lost the national popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes.

In one of the states that determined the outcome, the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct—two votes. And we've all been living with the consequences.

When my husband left office with Joe Biden at his side, we had a record-breaking stretch of job creation. We'd secured the right to health care for 20,000,000 people. We were respected around the world, rallying our allies to confront climate change. And our leaders had worked hand-in-hand with scientists to help prevent an Ebola outbreak from becoming a global pandemic.

Four years later, the state of this nation is very different. More than 150,000 people have died, and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. It has left millions of people jobless. Too many have lost their health care; too many are struggling to take care of basic necessities like food and rent; too many communities have been left in the lurch to grapple with whether and how to open our schools safely. Internationally, we've turned our back, not just on agreements forged by my husband, but on alliances championed by presidents like Reagan and Eisenhower.

And here at home, as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a Black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office.

Because whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy.

Empathy: that's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. The ability to walk in someone else's shoes; the recognition that someone else's experience has value, too. Most of us practice this without a second thought. If we see someone suffering or struggling, we don't stand in judgment. We reach out because, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." It is not a hard concept to grasp. It's what we teach our children.

And like so many of you, Barack and I have tried our best to instill in our girls a strong moral foundation to carry forward the values that our parents and grandparents poured into us. But right now, kids in this country are seeing what happens when we stop requiring empathy of one another. They're looking around wondering if we've been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value.

They see people shouting in grocery stores, unwilling to wear a mask to keep us all safe. They see people calling the police on folks minding their own business just because of the color of their skin. They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good, and winning is everything because as long as you come out on top, it doesn't matter what happens to everyone else. And they see what happens when that lack of empathy is ginned up into outright disdain.

They see our leaders labeling fellow citizens enemies of the state while emboldening torch-bearing white supremacists. They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages, and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful protestors for a photo-op.

Sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation. A nation that's underperforming not simply on matters of policy but on matters of character. And that's not just disappointing; it's downright infuriating, because I know the goodness and the grace that is out there in households and neighborhoods all across this nation.

And I know that regardless of our race, age, religion, or politics, when we close out the noise and the fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what's going on in this country is just not right. This is not who we want to be.

So what do we do now? What's our strategy? Over the past four years, a lot of people have asked me, "When others are going so low, does going high still really work?" My answer: going high is the only thing that works, because when we go low, when we use those same tactics of degrading and dehumanizing others, we just become part of the ugly noise that's drowning out everything else. We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes for which we fight.

But let's be clear: going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to that mountain top. Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God, and if we want to survive, we've got to find a way to live together and work together across our differences.

And going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free: the cold hard truth.

So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.

Now, I understand that my message won't be heard by some people. We live in a nation that is deeply divided, and I am a Black woman speaking at the Democratic Convention. But enough of you know me by now. You know that I tell you exactly what I'm feeling. You know I hate politics. But you also know that I care about this nation. You know how much I care about all of our children.

So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can; and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.

I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man, guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic, and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team. And he will govern as someone who's lived a life that the rest of us can recognize.

When he was a kid, Joe's father lost his job. When he was a young senator, Joe lost his wife and his baby daughter. And when he was vice president, he lost his beloved son. So Joe knows the anguish of sitting at a table with an empty chair, which is why he gives his time so freely to grieving parents. Joe knows what it's like to struggle, which is why he gives his personal phone number to kids overcoming a stutter of their own.

His life is a testament to getting back up, and he is going to channel that same grit and passion to pick us all up, to help us heal and guide us forward.

*Now, Joe is not perfect. And he'd be the first to tell you that. But there is no perfect candidate, no perfect president. And his ability to learn and grow—we find in that the kind of humility and maturity that so many of us yearn for right now. Because Joe Biden has served this nation his entire life without ever losing sight of who he is; but more than that, he has never lost sight of who we are, all of us.*

*Joe Biden wants all of our kids to go to a good school, see a doctor when they're sick, live on a healthy planet. And he's got plans to make all of that happen. Joe Biden wants all of our kids, no matter what they look like, to be able to walk out the door without worrying about being harassed or arrested or killed. He wants all of our kids to be able to go to a movie or a math class without being afraid of getting shot. He wants all our kids to grow up with leaders who won't just serve themselves and their wealthy peers but will provide a safety net for people facing hard times.*

*And if we want a chance to pursue any of these goals, any of these most basic requirements for a functioning society, we have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored. Because right now, folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting. They're closing down polling places in minority neighborhoods. They're purging voter rolls. They're sending people out to intimidate voters, and they're lying about the security of our ballots. These tactics are not new.*

*But this is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. We've got to show up with the same level of passion and hope for Joe Biden. We've got to vote early, in person if we can. We've got to request our mail-in ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow-up to make sure they're received. And then, make sure our friends and families do the same.*

*We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we've got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.*

*Look, we have already sacrificed so much this year. So many of you are already going that extra mile. Even when you're exhausted, you're mustering up unimaginable courage to put on those scrubs and give our loved ones a fighting chance. Even when you're anxious, you're delivering those packages, stocking those shelves, and doing all that essential work so that all of us can keep moving forward.*

*Even when it all feels so overwhelming, working parents are somehow piecing it all together without child care. Teachers are getting creative so that our kids can still learn and grow. Our young people are desperately fighting to pursue their dreams.*

*And when the horrors of systemic racism shook our country and our consciences, millions of Americans of every age, every background rose up to march for each other, crying out for justice and progress.*

*This is who we still are: compassionate, resilient, decent people whose fortunes are bound up with one another. And it is well past time for our leaders to once again reflect our truth.*

*So, it is up to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history, echoing heroes like John Lewis who said, "When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something." That is the truest form of empathy: not just feeling, but doing; not just for ourselves or our kids, but for everyone, for all our kids.*

*And if we want to keep the possibility of progress alive in our time, if we want to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we have got to reassert our place in American history. And we have got to do everything we can to elect my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president of the United States.*

*Thank you all. God bless.*

In 2016 when Michelle said, “When they go low we go high” I wondered if she’d seen a single one of Hillary Clinton’s attack ads? You can’t call someone a racist, misogynist and say that you’ve “gone high”.

Now she says, “I am one of a handful of people living today who have seen firsthand the immense weight and awesome power of the presidency. And let me once again tell you this: The job is hard,” Michelle Obama said. “It requires clear-headed judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a devotion to facts and history, a moral compass, and an ability to listen — and an abiding belief that each of the 330,000,000 lives in this country has meaning and worth.”

And she’s endorsing a guy who’s called her husband as “Barack America” and “President My Boss”.

Then there’s this:

No. President Obama was merely pointing out what everyone with a functioning brain already knows. Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't.

Trump then went on to prove President Obama's point with a series of unhinged all caps tweets.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has established beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump is a security threat to this country. It's impossible to overstate that.

Listening to it now. Hang on a sec….

Michelle Obama never disappoints me. She’s just more than you can take in all at once.

Her intelligence comprises a wide swath of skills, and communicating meaningful connections and associations are her specialty. I find her intellectual, well paced and methodical (and because of this I find her easy to listen to and understand) with an absence of pretense. And for those who are not sure, confidence isn’t pretentious.

in a time when everyone is struggling with the chaotic now, she very clearly summarized the chaos of the last 3 years.

She summarizes our situation with the Russian Agent Orange eloquently yet unflinchingly.

It makes me think that if such a reasonably minded person feels this concerned (alarmed?), we are in trouble.

it’s also the first keynote speech O have ever listened to in full. Thank you for asking!

Having been asked to respond, I can only say that I don’t care for Obama’s activist role in D.C. nor do I care for his speeches or his body language. When he hops onto the stage, he has that arrogant “ghetto” strut that was popular years ago, signifying he’s c o o l, his head movements, his leaning on the podium, his facial expressions, his fluctuating voice patterns……ALL “tells” of pure arrogance, contempt for the intelligence of his audience……a snake oil salesman, trained by a racist race baiter, one “Rev” Jeremiah Wright….famous for his Loud Statement of “ God Bless America❓NO❗️GODDAMN AMERICA❗️Yes, Obama’s MENTOR❗️

So his speech ? Obama’s STILL trying to protect his “LEGACY” this egotistical P O S ❗️Obama’s STILL in D.C. UNDERMINING AMERICA❗️

Our Nation, the World, has suffered a DOWNTURN since 2008 which coincides with Obama’s reign in the W.H. ……………….

………………………⁉️……..DID this SPAWN of SATAN OPENED the GATES of HELL ❓

Many of us won’t appreciate it until we’ve given half a century of ourselves to the service of a public who may not even notice it.

Many of us won’t get it until we’ve been married to someone we love more than our own lives, and learned what loss is.

Lots of people say they love a lot of things, but when Joe Biden says “America, I love you’ it carries a weight of integrity that most of us will need at least fifty years of devotion to comprehend. This is a man that history will remember as one who was - from beginning to end - a public Servant, not a King.

Jill Biden - Might have sealed the deal last night.

Michelle - It is offensive I must answer this. Of course she is a rock star

Klobuchar - Good thing she is not losing her Senate seat anytime soon because her second passion is comedy. Sadly, she has no comic bone in her body.

Lady who lost her dad - Emotionally powerful

The guy in the wheelchair - Kudos for Biden campaign for allowing him to speak though they clearly disagree.

Cindy McCain - Great, I hoped she fully endorsed and utter the word. It is obvious she is voting for him. If you cant tell that from the video - I dont know what to tell you. But, I wished she uttered the “I endorse” phrase.

Colin Powell - Great speech not sure he has enough following though.

Kasich - Fine job but might have offended liberals with Biden wont go far left analysis.

Bernie - I am sure even Biden appreciate he distinguishing the two on M4A. Other topics were good to bring the left aboard

Doug Jones - If his attendance was a cheap way to get some national $$$ for his doomed reelection, he did not help himself as much. If it was to attend a DNC as an incumbent Senator - Missioned accomplished as this is his last few months in elected office unless he changes his state.

Whitmer - Now I know why she was (originally) dropped off early from VP slot. I thought it was a dumb move as she is from MI. She would not have delivered MI for Joe - not saying he needed her. So good call in not choosing her. The speech was meh.

The Carters - Mrs Carter has aged gracefully. I could not hear her voice well in the TV. I heard it in YouTube. Jimmy is still as sharp as it gets for a 96 years old.

Bill Clinton - Why would he mention about dignity man? Come on. I am a Democrat so I am not trolling but come on. Have common sense.

AOC - Lets be clear, she has endorsed Biden. Shameful she did not get a speaking time except to nominate Bernie

John Kerry - I know he spoke about foreign policy, I cant tell you specifics, I took a nice nap.

(I have voted for a Clinton for 3 General Election ballots, FYI)

There are others too but I cant recall them to save my life.

She's part of the wealthy elite talking about stuff she doesn't understand. That woman gives terrible advice and she's got a lot of nerve trying to scold the wealthy while pretending she doesn't fly home to her $20-million dollar mansion in the Hamptons.

She looked good but she sounded really fake and she's obviously obsessed with race and identity politics. You could tell the crowd roaring was fake if you watched it on the mainstream network feed. In the replay they even added more fake cheering.

The only HOPE I have for my future is to never see any of these anti-American self-absorbed drunkies ever again.

Here is my take.

Shocker

Biden - The idea about dementia is literally Stephen Colbert level funny after this week. Now, anything less than perfection from Trump, we must turn the attack against them.

Unsurprising

The Obamas - Because of the format or maybe she is sitting down while Barack was standing or for some reason - for the first and perhaps last time, I liked Barack’s speech better. Michelle was great too.

Sanders - Perfection personified.

Great

Jill Biden - if Joe wins, it is in large part because of Jill’s speech. She sealed the deal.

Andew Cuomo - one or two strategic errors but the speech was fine. The strategy, not so much.

Fine Job

Kamala Harris - I am sure she is capable of a better speech. It was not bad at all though.

Cory Booker - I have seen his 2012 and 2016 speeches to DNC. 2020 was the worse. Perhaps because he only had 3 minutes to do it. (This ranking is in part considering his past speeches).

Bloomberg - the speech as a whole was trash but it had few best zingers of the entire convention.

Pete - It must be the time shortage but I did not like it at all. He clearly is a good speaker - almost in par to Obama but he did not deliver.

HRC - She did not harm the ticket, that is good enough.

Bill - Final indication his time has come and gone.

Meh

Amy Klobuchar - PSA: Please if you work for her tell her she is a great Senator and not to audition for SNL because she has no comic bone in her body. Corny mom jokes. I am sorry Obama’s dad jokes were funny.

Whitmer - Glad she was not the VP nominee. Traditional speech in a non traditional convention seems too out of space and tone deaf. She can recycle it for next convention and it will be great but who are her advisers? They must be fired. They did her dirty.

Yang - Is this the speech he wanted to make and was whining for not been invited to speak? Come on.

Others

I would have cut them off the program and give extra time to Barack, Michelle, Kamala and Cory Booker.

If you have ever seen a drama called “Party Tricks”, you might recall a scene where the male lead actor calls the female actor playing a politician called a childless cat lady. That sounds familiar like JD ( Shading) Vance’s attack on Kamala Harris?

So when Michelle Obama talks about Trump.

Michelle Obama said, “understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. 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. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top.”

“Who is going to tell him [Trump] that the job that he is seeking might be one of those Black jobs,” Obama said, to thunderous applause.

What did I think of her speech?
I listened to a few minutes here and there by accident as I was skipping around to different channels and what I realize is that I find her tedious to listen to. In fact just about everyone at that convention is tedious and tiresome.

The RNC is about one thing; how to make Donald Trump sale-able to the American public and to me.
It is a sales presentation to convince someone that this brown shoe is appropriate to wear with your black tuxedo to the black tie affair, when it really is not nor will ever be.

What can Melania really say?
That Donald Trump, is a good guy and a good father? Well, by all accounts- no.

He works hard on behalf of the American people? No, 60% of his executive time is spent watching TV and tweeting silly sh!t.

He cares about people? Ha ha ha! That is demonstrably not true; he is certainly one of the most self-centered, self-absorbed individuals that most people know of.

He is the president that serves all of the people? Again, that’s not even close to being true. Many say that he is a racist, misogynist, sexist, nativist, classist and elitist demagogue. And, a sexual predator.

He is someone you can trust with your future and that of the country? Hell no. almost 180,000 dead from COVID -19 says differently. He is most notably an effortless liar and conman; that will take credit for the sunshine if you don’t challenge him, but excuses himself from responsibility when things go south.

Melania, is tiresome, because her husband is tiresome. I am tired of Donald Trump.

In the abstract, it was pretty good. I thought he was a little stiff at first, warmed up as he went on. Now that I actually know about it, you can sort of tell when he hits a word that he might have some stutter trouble with. He’s good at conveying emotion, not a great enunciator, and pretty much nobody looks good doing this compared with Obama: there was a reason his thing was a different night. I’d maybe give it a B+ for presentation. He notably actually focused on issues that are bothering actual people: the virus, the economy, racial justice, climate change. That was good. Donald Trump just gave a speech about how the Democrats are trying to cancel people, though maybe he’ll add some material for next week.

In terms of the 2020 campaign, Biden knocked it out of the park. For reasons that truly escape me, the Trump campaign has decided to make this election a referendum on mental acuity, and have consequently focused on a strategy of portraying Joe Biden as being drooling, senile, and unable to function. This seems unwise for two reasons. First, it’s very unclear to me that if one were a single-issue, “who’s the most senile” voter that you’d prefer President Trump. But second, they have been setting expectations for Joe Biden incredibly low, so him doing “ok” makes it seem like he killed it.

So, under the circumstances, he killed it. Grading on the Trump-imposed curve, A+.