Former ABC reporter, NPR host and current Washington Post contributing columnist Michele Norris joined Anderson Cooper on Tuesday's CNN Newsroom to discuss former First Lady Michelle Obama's Monday speech to the Democratic National Convention. Both Cooper and Norris offered nothing but praise for Obama, with the latter contending she was "essentially necklacing" President Trump with his own words.
Cooper began by gently inquiring of Norris, "I wonder what your reaction is to her speech and to the president's response."
Norris responded with copious amounts of praise, "Well, first to her speech. What an incredible act of oration. Just perfectly delivered. The tone, the setting, the words, the message." She also found it, "interesting you use the clip which ended with that phrase, 'it is what it is.' Taking the president's own words and essentially necklacing them around his neck."
After that gratuitously brutal analogy (necklacing is the act of killing someone via tire fire), Norris argued "It was a very powerful speech delivered under unusual circumstances from her home, instead of in that audience. But in that way, it seemed that it gave it even more power because the words were not adorned by the roar of the crowd you would normally see at a convention but had a chance to hang out there and really hit people and resonate in a very different way."
Cooper then got his praise in, "It was almost as if she was asking to pull up a chair and talk with her about something. She also made it clear that she hates politics when she said that outright, reminding us that in her speech, and talking about the president not on political terms of policies, which people can disagree on, but on character, on who he actually is and isn't."
Norris naturally agreed, but then contradicted herself and Obama on her alleged hatred for politics:
There was a real intimacy to that, but she spoke as someone who said she doesn't like politics and the back and forth we've seen from the White House is probably what she disdains. But she does care about policy and she does care about the country. And she talked as someone who is a proud American but also as a mother. She talked repeatedly about our children and what they're watching in this moment. And what's at stake for them, because of COVID, because of the protests that we're seeing in the streets, because of climate change and global warming. She made all of that very clear in the way that she spoke. And the message that she delivered in a very powerful opening for the DNC.
At the beginning, Cooper did disclose the fact that Norris appeared on Obama's podcast earlier in the month, but declined inform his audience that Norris left NPR hosting duties in 2011 because her husband Broderick Johnson took a senior adviser position on Barack Obama's campaign. He also failed to disclose that the couple hosted Obama at Martha's Vineyard after Norris returned to NPR in a lesser capacity.
This segment was sponsored by Volkswagen.
Here is a transcript for the August 18 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
1:56 PM ET
ANDERSON COOPER: Joining me now to discuss is Michele Norris, she’s a Washington Post contributing columnist and appeared on Michelle Obama's podcast last week. Michelle, first great to see you having spent some time with Mrs. Obama --
MICHELE NORRIS: Great to see you, too.
COOPER: I wonder what your reaction is to her speech and to the president's response.
NORRIS: Well, first to her speech. What an incredible act of oration. Just perfectly delivered. The tone, the setting, the words, the message. And interesting you use the clip which ended with that phrase, “it is what it is.” Taking the president's own words and essentially necklacing them around his neck, in his case uttered when speaking about a death rate that had spiraled out of control in America. In her case, talking not about apathy but agency, trying to make people understand what is at stake in this election. The president noted that the reviews have been fawning for good reason. It was a very powerful speech delivered under unusual circumstances from her home, instead of in that audience. But in that way, it seemed that it gave it even more power because the words were not adorned by the roar of the crowd you would normally see at a convention but had a chance to hang out there and really hit people and resonate in a very different way.
COOPER: Yeah. I thought, you know, the medium is very different than being in a convention hall. Convention speeches are a certain type and you have to wait for the crowd, as you said. There's an intimacy.
NORRIS: Yes.
COOPER: This kind of format is at its best when it makes the most of that intimacy and she really did that. It was almost as if she was asking to pull up a chair and talk with her about something. She also made it clear that she hates politics when she said that outright, reminding us that in her speech, and talking about the president not on political terms of policies, which people can disagree on, but on character, on who he actually is and isn't.
NORRIS: Right, right. And that's what's actually at stake, the character of that man but also the character of the country. You noted that it felt like she asked you to pull up a chair I noticed that, too. It almost felt like you were sitting at the end of a kitchen table or there was a coffee table between you. There was a real intimacy to that, but she spoke as someone who said she doesn't like politics and the back and forth we've seen from the White House is probably what she disdains. But she does care about policy and she does care about the country. And she talked as someone who is a proud American but also as a mother. She talked repeatedly about our children and what they're watching in this moment. And what's at stake for them, because of COVID, because of the protests that we're seeing in the streets, because of climate change and global warming. She made all of that very clear in the way that she spoke. And the message that she delivered in a very powerful opening for the DNC.
