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Tags: Joe Scarborough | Michelle Obama | DNC | Speech

Joe Scarborough Compares Michelle Obama's Speech to Reagan's Addresses

(MSNBC/"Morning Joe")

By    |   Tuesday, 26 July 2016 09:00 AM EDT

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Tuesday lauded first lady Michelle Obama's Democratic National Committee speech, and compared her "optimism and her hope" to someone who she might not like being compared with: late President Ronald Reagan.

"He could talk about all of the problems we're having, and then look right at the audience, always end by saying, 'I believe that America's days truly do lie ahead," Scarborough said on his "Morning Joe" program Tuesday.

"Despite all of the problems that we are facing as a country, despite all of the problems we have in our economy, despite all of the challenges across the globe, we are Americans."

And like President Barack Obama's 2004 convention speech; and Reagan in 1980 and 1984, the first lady "spoke the truth," said Scarborough. "We are the last best hope for a dying world. If you can't get behind that message as a Republican or a Democrat, then let me buy you a ticket to another country. Because we are the greatest country on the face of the Earth. "

NBC's Willie Geist agreed with Scarborough, saying he believes "history will remember first lady's speech as one of the greatest in history at conventions, in the pantheon of great speeches," particularly considering the chaos that was going on before that.

"Sarah Silverman's moment started to turn it," said Geist. "When the first lady walked in, the room got quiet." In her speech, Obama told of raising her daughters in the White House, and her awe at her family being part of its history.

"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," Obama said. "And I watched my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. So don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on Earth."
 
"You don't have to make America great again," Scarborough said, referring GOP nominee Donald Trump's campaign slogan. "America is great. That is something that when Michelle Obama says that, she connects not just with Democrats, not just with liberals, but with a lot of Republicans and a lot of independents that have been saying that for a very long time. America is great."

Scarborough said he expects networks will be playing parts of her speech again four years from now.

"We're talking about the pantheon of great speeches," said Scarborough. "We can go to Ted Kennedy's speech in 1980 against Jimmy Carter. The speech it reminds me of the most is Barack Obama's 2004 speech in Boston, the United States of America speech.

"There's not a red state America,there's not a blue state of America, there's a United States of America. Extraordinary."

Scarborough said he has a message to his fellow Republicans who are campaigning this fall, and that's to emphasize the greatness of the United States.

"People are scared. People are worried," he said. "But they still are proud of their country. As [columnist] Mike Barnicle always says, 'That's what they have got. They have got this country, and it's the greatest country in the world.'"

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Politics
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Tuesday lauded first lady Michelle Obama's Democratic National Committee speech, and compared her optimism and her hope to someone who she might not like being compared with: late President Ronald Reagan.
Joe Scarborough, Michelle Obama, DNC, Speech
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2016-00-26
Tuesday, 26 July 2016 09:00 AM
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