Barack Obama's DNC Speech Reminds Us Of Another Dynamite Convention Speaker

The Barack Obama who took the stage in Chicago on Tuesday night evidently hasn’t given up on the ideals of the young man who brought the house down in Boston 20 years ago.

The “ skinny kid with the funny name ” who addressed the 2004 Democratic National Convention established himself as a national political figure and laid the groundwork for what, four years later, would be his own successful run for the presidency.

Tuesday night, he was older and grayer, though still pretty skinny. And this time, his mission was to promote the presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, rather than that of 2004 Democratic nominee (and then-senator) John Kerry.

But Obama’s underlying message was the very same call he issued in Boston — to find common ground with would-be adversaries, to transcend division in a time of unprecedented polarization. And if it felt somehow incompatible with the harsh realities of today’s political environment, it’s worth remembering that it seemed like a pretty audacious argument back then, too.

The 2004 campaign took place in the tumultuous aftermath of the 2000 election, which is when the now-familiar portrayal of red and blue states became fixtures of political discussion. At the forefront were fights over patriotism (in the wake of 9/11 and the war in Iraq) and LGBTQ+ rights (in the wake of the first state supreme court decision legalizing same-sex marriage) that were as much about culture and identity as they were about policy.

Those battle lines were rooted in real, deeply held differences in values and prejudices as old as the country itself. But, Obama told the convention audience, the lines were hardening because certain leaders ― like then-Republican President George W. Bush and the