KALAMAZOO, MI — Former first lady Michelle Obama made her debut on the campaign trail on Saturday in fiery remarks that asked voters not just in Michigan but across the country: Why is Kamala Harris being held to a double standard?
It’s a conversation that’s crept up across cable networks and pundit panels as the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump has remained in a deadlock. Obama, who is upfront about her hate for the political process as the first Black first lady in U.S. history, said she was beckoned back on the trail because of her frustration and fear.
“This race is close. It’s too close for my liking,” she said, at one point in her remarks, saying Trump was in “obvious mental decline.”
“I gotta ask myself, why on earth is this race even close? I lie awake at night wondering what in the world is going on? And it’s clear to me that the question isn’t whether Kamala is ready for this moment because, by every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready. The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”
She added, “And right now, folks, I have to be honest, I’m not completely sure of the answers to those questions.”
Obama injected some fire into the campaign during her 40-minute remarks, as early voting is already underway in the state. She is seen among the party as maybe the most capable Democrat to assail the faults of Trump, even more than her husband. Her appearance Saturday was her first since she spoke at the party’s convention in August.
“I’m deeply concerned,” she said. “I’m talking to everybody out there, that too many of us are still confused in buying into the lies and distortions from people who do not have our best interests at heart.”
The Chicago native called Harris a grown-up and implied that the former president was not. Obama said Harris was not losing her train of thought or stumbling over her words, and she suggested that the former president certainly was. Obama cast Harris as a leader with the emotional maturity to deal with complex issues, inferring again that Trump was not.
“There are folks sowing seeds of doubt about whether she’s who she appears to be,” she said of Harris. “Now, don’t get me wrong, voters have every right to ask hard questions of any candidate seeking office. But can someone tell me why we are once again holding Kamala to a higher standard than her opponent?”
Obama said that Harris is expected to be “intelligent and articulate” with a “clear set of policies,” but for Trump, “we expect nothing at all.”
The former first lady had most of the crowd — which was packed into a converted minor league ice hockey rink — on their feet as she assailed the country for treating Trump with kid gloves and the vice president with an iron fist.
“I was kinda surprised, I thought she’d have a bigger venue,” Juan Cahue, a resident of Kalamazoo, told NOTUS ahead of the remarks. “But I’m glad she’s here, it’s going to sway a lot of people.”
It was the second day in a row that Americans saw a famous Black woman step into the political foray to advocate for the vice president as the polls remained tightly locked.
“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” she said. “I hope that you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline and his history as a convicted felon.”
Obama repeatedly drew what she saw as distinctions in how Harris and Trump are treated, saying the country is picking apart Harris’ answers in “interviews he doesn’t even have the courage to do.”
Black women in the crowd on Saturday stood to their feet during Obama’s remarks, too familiar with the age-old saying they have to be twice as good to get half of what they have.
“As a Black woman, she’s lived it. She’s lived through it with her husband. She’s seen the double standard,” said Tonya Martin, a Kalamazoo resident, who appreciated Obama for saying what most were already thinking.
When Harris took the stage, she simply said of the former first lady: “She’s a truth teller.” The vice president delivered more optimistic remarks to the crisis comments from the former first lady.
Sherlene Killebrew, who drove two hours just to see Obama after completing a session of dialysis in the suburbs of Detroit, said it was “phenomenal” that so many people came out “to listen to two very educated Black women and that they’re supporting them at this level. I just never thought in my lifetime I would see this.”
Aides billed Harris’ focus for Saturday’s rally as a moment to once again discuss reproductive rights and “Trump’s abortion ban” for the second time in as many days. The vice president stopped by a local doctor’s office in Portage to meet with reproductive health care providers and students before her remarks. And after delivering her sweeping concern for the state of the race, the former first lady turned to reproductive rights.
“There is so much that gets lost in the conversation about women’s reproductive rights, and I want the men in the arena to bear with me on this, because there’s more at stake than just protecting a woman’s choice to give birth, right?” she said, turning a portion of her remarks squarely on the men, just as Harris had done the night before.
“Fellas, before you cast your vote, ask yourselves what side of history do you want to be on,” she said.
Still, Obama’s comments left some hoping for more.
“She’s always said that she doesn’t like politics. She was in it because of Barack. She supported him, and she knew how important it was for America, period,” said Killebrew, who last week also saw the vice president and Mr. Obama. “But, yeah, I wish she would [run], but I know that that’s a far-fetched idea for her to even consider being in politics.”
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Jasmine Wright is a reporter at NOTUS.