Michelle Obama on Monday night delivered a moving speech where she endorsed Hillary Clinton, took aim at Donald Trump and had the entire crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia applauding and on their feet.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought my husband should be president,” the first lady said as she took the stage to cheers.
Obama spoke about her daughters and how they are the “heart of our hearts” and the “center of our world” before shifting focus to the future of the country.
“In this election and in every election, it’s about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of our lives,” she said. “And I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility: Our friend, Hillary Clinton.”
Explaining why she trusts Clinton, Obama praised the Democratic nominee’s ability to break through the glass ceiling and for “lifting all of us along with her.”
“What I admire about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure,” she said. “She never takes the easy way out and Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.”
“Today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” she said to rousing applause. “I watch my daughters — two beautiful, intelligent black young women — playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States.”
She continued: “So don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great. That somehow, we need to make it great again. Because this, right now, is the greatest country on earth.”
After the first lady spoke, the President took to twitter to congratulate his wife.
Obama kicked off the DNC just one week after Melania Trump’s Republican National Convention opening address that plagiarized parts of the first lady’s speech from 2008, leading many to speculate if Obama would address the controversy when she took the stage during the first night of the four-day event.
Bernie Sanders, as well as celebrities Demi Lovato, Sarah Silverman and Eva Longoria, also took the stage on Monday. The convention could be the starriest in modern political history, with A-listers from Lady Gaga to Lena Dunham to Katy Perry all joining the star-studded roster to endorse Clinton and her VP pick Tim Kaine this week in Philadelphia.