Exclusive: Confidante to Obamas previews their DNC messages
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Valerie Jarrett speaks at the When We All Vote Inaugural Culture of Democracy Summit VIP reception on June 12, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Speaking at a Axios House event Tuesday, former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said Barack and Michelle Obama's speeches at the Democratic National Convention will be calls to action about the need to translate the excitement for Vice President Kamala Harris into votes.
Why it matters: Jarrett, now CEO of the Obama Foundation and a longtime friend of the family, said the former president and first lady will emphasize the need for an "all hands on deck" approach, while also reflecting the sense of optimism coursing through the party and its voters.
- She noted former First Lady Michelle Obama, a persistently popular and galvanizing figure in the party, "knows Vice President Harris very well."
- "I think it will be a personal message ... one of why this is an opportunity for us to be joyful and get engaged again and be enthusiastic again and work hard again," she said of the former first lady's Tuesday address.
- "Our democracy has been under threat and under attack, and it us up to us to be those active and engaged citizens to ensure that we get back on track," she told Axios' Mike Allen, previewing the remarks.
State of play: Many have drawn comparisons between the "Obama coalition" built during the 2008 campaign and the grassroots enthusiasm generated since Harris moved to the top of the ticket.
- Jarrett said the on-the-ground excitement was similar, but now it was also echoed online in the social media age.
- "In a sense, it's a continuation of the hard work he began," Jarrett said of Obama's grassroots movement.
- "We have nothing but joy and enthusiasm for what's going on right now," she continued. "Young people today who are picking up that baton and running with it is all President Obama would have ever wanted."
The intrigue: Jarrett said Obama was "very happy" with his life as a former president, agreeing with Allen that he "loves being Barack Obama."
- "The two of them are so forward-looking, and they're still relatively young, and what gives them pleasure is seeing the next generation of leaders mature," Jarrett said, pointing to the Obama Foundation's work.
- When they arrived in Chicago for the convention, Jarrett said she remarked to the Obamas that they were arriving back in their hometown as "two of the most popular people in the world."
- "Hard to believe, right?" the former president replied.
Go deeper: Valerie Jarrett: Supreme Court rulings, protests "support the civil rights of our country"
