With co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King helming CBS Mornings, Wednesday’s show was packed to the brim with adulation among King and a host of pals for the “virtuoso performance” by Barack and Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday in what they insisted will be remembered as not only an “energetic” and “phenomenal” “one-two punch”, but a “cultural moment”.
King got things started in the “Eye Opener”: “The crowd roars for both of the Obamas as they make the case for Kamala Harris and against Donald Trump.”
She could barely contain herself afterward:
It was a very big night at the Democratic National Convention. Did you stay up late? Yes, you did, with the powerful speeches by former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, they made their cases for the Harris-Walz ticket to a crowd that was how shall we say, ecstatic to see them...It seems like they are putting the party back in Democratic Party. Michelle and Barack Obama were the one-two punch, and people could say best guest of the party last night.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil agreed “it really was a party” and gushed “[t]he roar of the crowd may still be echoing off the walls here at the United Center” from “that huge speech from Barack Obama, but yes, maybe even a bigger one from former First Lady Michelle Obama”.
Adding “there were just so many quotable moments” ripping Trump, Dokoupil boasted Barack “blend[ed] nostalgia with inspiration” and gently ribbed him for making a veiled reference to Trump’s manhood.
Correspondent Ed O’Keefe had the main recap that trumpeted Michelle’s “piercing criticism of her husband’s successor” and talked up the “music driven piece of business, a state by state roll call to officially nominate Harris and running mate, Tim Walz with a unique tune for each and in some cases, celebrity appearances.”
Democratic strategist and CBS News contributor Joel Payne was up on King’s level of enthrallment.
Moments after Payne touted the former First Lady as “so effective”, King had to get in on the act and offer more praise for her personal friend (which wasn’t mentioned) (click “expand”):
KING: Yes, I was curious, Joel, about Michelle Obama in particular, because she is very reluctant, as you know, to be on stage. She’s very reluctant to even say Donald Trump’s name, which she did yesterday and I think that she always seems to transcend politics. The fact that, in my opinion, she was making the case that the stakes seemed very high for the Democratic Party and both of them made this point: As good as this is, the energy was infectious. I mean, literally people got out of their beds and were cheering last night. I got so many phone calls about it, they still said, this is an uphill battle. Do you think that point was made last night from both of them?
PAYNE: Well, Gayle, the thing is, is that the experience is so personal for the Obamas, because what Kamala Harris is trying to do, the audacious thing she’s trying to do, it’s what Barack and Michelle Obama did, and it impacted their family and I think she was trying to tell how that experience of going through that for them 16 years ago really drew a straight line to what Kamala Harris and her family are dealing with, so I think it was personal for her, and I think that’s why she spoke. She talked about the grief of losing her mother recently, and why she felt like despite that, she needed to be here. It was so inspiring, Gayle. You’re right. I got so many calls. I was sitting with a former Obama administration official who just talked about how, you know, Michelle Obama doesn’t want people to stop asking her about running for president. She stopped giving speeches like that. She was phenomenal.
Fast-forwarding to the top of the second hour (and past another classic Dokoupil man-on-the-street piece), King had more fawning praise for the “very energetic day at the DNC in Chicago, former First Lady Michelle Obama,” who “was greeted like a rock star, and rock star is the word before she even opened her mouth and made the case for Vice President Kamala Harris”.
“You know who else had a great night, I thought, was the Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, which ordinarily we’d be talking a lot about because I thought he was also knockout, but the Obamas were so strong. Michelle Obama in particular, it’s hard to not speak about her performance last night,” she added.
Before going to January 6 correspondent Scott MacFarlane in North Carolina to give a few fleeting words about the state of the Trump campaign, Dokoupil reveled in how the CBS Mornings crew were in awe of their team’s convention:
You know, we’re all on a text chain, and we were exchanging notes last night. And you know, Barack Obama is recognized as a generational speaker. There is no doubt about that, and yet, he might not be the best speechmaker in his own family. That was also clear....The mission, the assignment, that was very clear for the Obamas, they were going to fire up the Democrats and help people make a plan to vote. That’s what you heard from both of the Obamas.
Later in the second hour, Dokoupil interviewed singer John Legend about his support for Harris and, again to his credit, pointed out to him that the wide support of Hollywood names for Harris “allows Republicans to look at the party and say it’s the party of coastal elites.”
To see the full transcript of CBS’s DNC coverage from August 21, click here.
