--- title: DNC: Barack Obama Speech Transcript description: Barack Obama took the stage to make the case for Hillary Clinton in a primetime address at the Democratic National Convention. canonical: https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-27T22:24:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T12:34:46.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Speech at the Democratic Convention og:description: "There has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton." og:url: https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d61123f3ca1fdd/69889ff3cd1bbad08c701b48/gettyimages-583838406.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Speech at the Democratic Convention twitter:description: "There has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d61123f3ca1fdd/69889ff3cd1bbad08c701b48/gettyimages-583838406.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Speech at the Democratic Convention by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:34 PM UTCPublished: Jul 27, 2016 10:24 PM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:34 PM UTCPublished: Jul 27, 2016 10:24 PM UTC President Barack Obama took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday, highlighting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s qualifications for office, laid out his own record and attacked Republican nominee Donald Trump. “I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States of America,” Obama said. “I hope you don’t mind, Bill, but I was just telling the truth, man.” His speech began just before the 11 p.m. Eastern. Obama, who has already campaigned with Clinton, made reference to his rivalry with Clinton when they battled each other for the nomination, and how they eventually worked together, where he had a “front-row seat” to watch her in action. “You know, nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis or send young people to war,” Obama said. “But Hillary’s been in the room. She’s been part of those decisions.” He made mention of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, adding the narrative there was a “deeply pessimistic vision.” “America is already great. America is already strong,” Obama said. ### See Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Go From Rivals to Friends  June 2007 Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. adjust their seats at a Democratic presidential primary debate in Manchester, N.H. on June 3, 2007. Charles Krupa—AP  August 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama watches a broadcast of Hillary Clinton addressing the Democratic National Convention from a television in Billings, Mt. on Aug. 26, 2008. Emmanuel Dunand—AFP/Getty Images  August 2008 Hillary Clinton appears on screen as she asks for the rules of roll call to be suspended on day three of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver, on Aug. 27, 2008\. Clinton, Obama's former rival, rose on the floor of the DNC to ask that the roll-call vote be halted and Obama be named by acclamation. Matthew Staver—Bloomberg/Getty Images  October 2008 Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., delivers a speech supporting then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at a rally in Orlando, Fla. on Oct. 20, 2008. John Raoux—AP  October 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton attend a campaign rally together on Oct. 20, 2008 in Orlando, Fla. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  January 2009 In this photo released by the White House, President Barack Obama talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton shortly after she was confirmed and sworn in, at the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 21, 2009 in Washington. Pete Souza—The White House/Getty Images  September 2010 President Barack Obama walks with then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after he made a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Sept. 1, 2010. Charles Dharapak—AP  March 2011 President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attend a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on May 3, 2011. Charles Dharapak—AP  May 2011 In this photo released by the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House in Washington on May 1, 2011.This photo WAS digitally altered by the White House to diffuse the information on the papers on the table. Pete Souza—The White House/AP  November 2012 President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive at Yangon International airport during his historical first visit to the country on Nov. 19, 2012 in Yangon, Myanmar. Paula Bronstein—Getty Images  January 2013 President Barack Obama greets then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton during the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, 2013 in Washington when Obama was re-elected for a second term. Win McNamee—Getty Images  July 2016 President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wave to the crowd during a campaign rally for Clinton in Charlotte, N.C., on July 5, 2016. Chuck Burton—AP Read the speech, as prepared for delivery below: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Speech at the Democratic Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-27T22:24:45.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T12:34:46.000Z","description":"Barack Obama took the stage to make the case for Hillary Clinton in a primetime address at the Democratic National Convention.","url":"https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Hillary Clinton","Barack Obama","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d61123f3ca1fdd/69889ff3cd1bbad08c701b48/gettyimages-583838406.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d61123f3ca1fdd/69889ff3cd1bbad08c701b48/gettyimages-583838406.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.","caption":"US President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4426150/dnc-barack-obama-transcript/","name":"Read President Obama's Speech at the Democratic Convention"}}]}] ```