NY Times' Maggie Haberman: Michelle Obama Gave “Powerful” Response To Birther Smears In Convention Speech

David Gregory: Speech Was “To Remind People That [Trump] Was The Original Birther”

From the July 26 edition of CNN's New Day

Video file

MAGGIE HABERMAN: The other point that [Michelle Obama] made about children. She said something that I thought was very powerful last night and that got overlooked largely, which was she talked about her daughters, and how it was for them to grow up hearing their father have his faith questioned and his citizenship questioned. And sort of describing this through the eyes of children was very poignant. It was very humanizing, and it was really in contrast to a lot of how we heard, even in the most resonant moments of the Republican convention, Donald Trump described, this was very, very different. And I do think that this is going to be an enduring speech. It also helped frankly turn around what was a pretty rough day earlier. And I think that was very important. 

ALISYN CAMEROTA (CO-HOST): Maggie makes such a good point, David. It's hard to hear something new about Barack Obama's citizenship. But last night we did. I had never thought of it through the lens of how his daughters experienced that. I mean she really made it personal without seeming to overly affront it. 

DAVID GREGORY: Right. I mean I think it's very well said by Maggie. I mean I think the framing of being a parent, and the kind of example that you want to set in public life, that was the contrast to Donald Trump. And any of us who are parents have been embarrassed, frankly, to watch the Republican debates and the kind of vulgarity that have come, that has come from Donald Trump. I've got an 11-year-old son, and just to have to apologize for some of the stuff, who was trying to be civic minded and watch the presidential process. She was able to do that and so you see that's the choice here. And at the same time was able to really hammer Donald Trump, to remind people that he was the original birther. To talk about some of his vulgarity and to take on some of the other aspects of it. Yeah, so I thought very powerful. Also, look, a statement of values for the Democratic Party. What they hope to aspire to be, and also where Hillary Clinton is coming from. A very important testimonial from her.

Previously

CBS' John Dickerson: “Trump Was The Chief Birther In America"

Trump And How The Media's Birther Blind Spot Keeps Getting Bigger

Birtherism: Trump’s Original Sin And The Media’s Latest One