By REUTERS

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Former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama delivered a one-two punch at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, urging Americans to back Kamala Harris in her 11th-hour presidential bid against Republican Donald Trump.

"For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. Seeing his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people, who happen to be black. I want to know who's going to tell them. Who's going to tell him? That the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs. Doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will make people's lives."

"America hope is making a comeback. It is now my honor to introduce somebody who knows a whole lot about hope, someone who has. Spent his life strengthening our democracy. And let me tell you, as someone who lives with him, he wakes up every day, every day, and thinks about what's best for this country. Please welcome America's 44th president. The love of my life. Barack Obama."

America's first Black president, Obama has thrown his considerable political capital behind Harris as she seeks to make history herself on Nov. 5 as the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to be elected U.S. president.

"We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse," Obama told delegates on Day Two of the Chicago convention.

"America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris."

He aimed at Trump, the Republican who followed him into the White House in 2017, and praised President Joe Biden, his vice president who was forced out of the 2024 race by Democratic allies who feared he would lose to Trump in November.