Leonard Greene: Kamala Harris renews the hope of Obama

The Joe Biden era is officially over.

It ended on Oct. 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Ga. It was there, in front of a raucous campaign crowd that featured actor Samuel L. Jackson, rock star Bruce Springsteen and directors Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, that former President Barack Obama officially passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

Wait. Didn’t Biden already do that when he abandoned his re-election bid over the summer? Wasn’t she already anointed?

Well, sort of. But it was never really Biden’s legacy that Harris was inheriting.

It was Obama’s.

“It was over 17 years ago when I took a trip to Springfield, Ill. It was a cold February day, and I went there to support this brilliant young senator who was running for president of the United States,” Harris told supporters at a rally in the battleground southern state.

“And millions of Americans were energized and inspired not only by Barack Obama’s message, but by how he leads, seeking to unite rather than separate us. All these years later, Barack Obama, I say to you, your friendship and your faith in me and in our campaign means the world. Thank you, Mr. President.”

It was their first campaign appearance together ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5, and Obama appeared much more excited about supporting Harris than he ever did about backing Biden, his own vice president, or Hillary Clinton.

Weeks after admonishing Black men over polls that showed the group’s lukewarm support of Harris, Obama took aim at the real enemy, Donald Trump, criticizing the former president for his pandemic response, his tax cuts to the rich and his so-called strength appeal.

“Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions,” Obama said. “Real strength is telling the truth, even when it’s inconvenient.”

Obama even joked about a recent photo op that featured Trump in an apron serving burgers at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Pennsylvania.

Would you like some lies with that?

“She worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses,” Obama said. “She didn’t pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed.”

What this presidential race has needed all along was an inspirational boost, a pick-up-where-he-left-off moment, eight years in the making, that gets people off their TikTok videos and interested in politics and the world again.

And, yes, it’s sad that Biden has been reduced to a splendid Dana Carvey impersonation of him. But even his own wife, First Lady Jill Biden, admits that stepping aside for Harris was the “right call.”

“It’s time for something new,” she told ABC News. “It’ll be tough to maybe step away from it, but we’re starting a new chapter of our lives. A new journey.”

That’s what the country needs, too, a fresh start, a new chapter, like the one we got when Obama said, “Yes we can.”

Obama can’t run again, so it’s only fitting that Harris, an Obama disciple, is the one taking on Trump. Despite Obama’s accomplishments, his historic presidency was followed by an angry, violent and racist backlash with Trump at the helm.

If anything, Trump should be thanking Obama. Without a President Obama, there would have been no President Trump.

Harris has restored a sense of hope that Biden was unable to generate. But history will be kind to Biden. Hope is built on change. Change is carried along on bridges.

“President Biden pointed us away from the four years of chaos, falsehood and division that had characterized Donald Trump’s administration,” Obama said in July after Biden stepped aside for Harris. “Through his policies and his example, Joe has reminded us of who we are at our best."

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