Michelle Obama delivers the ultimatum

A night of strong sermons from the party's newest elders raises the question, will it translate to votes

Former president Barack Obama makes a joke about former president Donald Trump’s “obsession” over crowd sizes. (Screenshot of C-SPAN by Tom LoBianco/24sight News)

CHICAGO _ Barack Obama delivered the sermon Tuesday night, but Michelle Obama delivered the ultimatum.

“We cannot afford for anyone, anyone, anyone, America, to sit on their hands and wait to be called,” the former first lady told the crowd. “Don’t complain if no one from the campaign has specifically reached out to you to ask you for your support. There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness. You know what you need to do.”

“So, consider this to be your official ask: Michelle Obama is asking you—no, I’m telling y’all—to do something,” Michelle Obama said.

It was a message which seemed to have two targets, the party faithful elated for hours on end inside the United Center in Chicago, but also the naysayers who have been expressing concerns about the state of the Democrats’ voter data system and get-out-the-vote operations.

In one wildly historic month which reshaped the race for the White House race, the Democrats just got the type of raw, seemingly unending enthusiasm of the type that movements are made out of, as veteran Democratic pollster Doug Sosnik noted recently, but first they have to get Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to the White House.

Amazing Zoom calls with tens of thousands of participants are great, but they’re not votes and, typically, not filled with persuadable voters in the swing states the Democrats need to win on Election Day.

Some Democratic operatives have been grumbling behind the scenes about the party’s long-running voter data system, NGP-VAN, which according to one state-level Democrat who noted the data essential to getting voters to cast their ballots is routinely outdated and wrong.

It could be pandemic in the party, or it could be endemic to one state.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party has been lauded widely for its organizing and deployment under chairman Ben Wikler.

One veteran Democrat told 24sight News that the comment from Michelle Obama could be a reflexive call to action from a veteran of many campaigns, or there could be a broader problem, akin to the Republican Party’s famous collapse of its ORCA data system which was blamed in part for Mitt Romney’s loss in 2012.

The answer, the veteran Democrat said, won’t come until Election Day.

UAW President Shawn Fain told 24sight News Wednesday that he thinks the rampant energy will translate on the ground heading into November and at the ballot box.