President Bill Clinton calls Harris ‘the president of joy’ during DNC speech
Former President Bill Clinton said Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate in the 2024 race with “the vision, the experience, the temperament, the will and, yes, the sheer joy” to get the job done during his Wednesday night address at the Democratic National Convention.
Speaking ahead of vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Clinton told the crowd of the pride he’s seen in the Democratic party in the last two days and the hope he sees in a potential Harris presidency, while also striking hard at her Republican competitor, former President Donald Trump.
“In 2024, we got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me: Kamala Harris for the people, and the other guy who’s proved even more than the first go-around that he’s about me, myself and I. I know which one I like better for our country,” Clinton said.
The 78-year-old’s speech was largely focused on the former president and the current vice president’s differences, painting Trump as a leader of division and chaos and Harris as “the president of joy.”
“The next time you hear [Trump], don’t count the lies, count the I’s. His vendettas. His vengeance. His complaints. His conspiracies,” Clinton said. “When Kamala Harris is president, every day will begin with you, you, you, you.”
The 42nd president spoke two days after his wife, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, addressed the Chicago crowd on the convention’s first night.
And although the former president didn’t mention that year’s election during his speech, he quipped that she — along with President Joe Biden and the Obamas, who spoke on Monday and Tuesday, respectively — did well.
He also didn’t directly mention his wife’s loss to Trump during the 2016 election, but one line seemed to hearken back to the Republican nominee’s surprise victory after polls largely showed Hillary in the lead — and served as a warning that voters shouldn’t get too comfortable in allowing it to happen again.
“We’ve seen more than one election slip away from us when we thought it couldn’t happen, when people got distracted by phony issues,” Clinton said Wednesday. “This is a brutal, tough business. I want you to be happy. One of the reasons that president-to-be Harris is doing so well is that we’re all so happy. But you should never underestimate your adversary. And these people are really good at distracting us, at triggering doubt, at triggering buyer’s remorse.”
CNN reports that after Monday night, Hillary Clinton inspired her husband to rewrite his speech to include his “sharpest public critique” of the Republican nominee, while also reshaping his words under a “more fun, youthful, joyful” tone. But it wasn’t his first rodeo: Bill Clinton said he’s been at every DNC since 1972.
