Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on stage during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
After an opening night that was dedicated to thanking President Joe Biden, Tuesday’s Democratic National Convention speakers barely mentioned the president at all.
Instead, speakers on the second day of the convention sought to turn the page and focus on the party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, rather than on Biden’s achievements.
Former president Barack Obama spoke about Biden for longer than any other headliner, about two minutes.
“History will remember Joe Biden as a president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger. I am proud to call him my president, but even prouder to call him my friend,” Obama said in his keynote address.
“Now the torch has been passed,” he said.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama, who spoke before her husband, did not mention Biden once in her address.
Earlier in the evening, when convention speakers did mention Biden, it was almost always in conjunction with Harris, to laud the accomplishments of their administration.
After delivering his own nearly 50-minute keynote speech on Monday night, Biden boarded Air Force One and flew to Southern California. The president will spend the rest of the week there on vacation.