Harris backed by Obamas as they warn of Trump 'bluster and chaos'

Amid chants of "Yes, she can!", the Obamas returned to the scene of past triumphs on Tuesday with back-to-back speeches passing the mantle of political history to Kamala Harris - and eviscerating her opponent Donald Trump.

- David Smith

The former US president delivered the closing speech on night two of the Democratic National Convention in his home city of Chicago, prompting cheers as he delivered a withering critique of Trump, who succeeded him in the White House in 2017.

"We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos," he told delegates. "We have seen that movie before and we all know that the sequel is usually worse. America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris." Obama was speaking 20 years after he first exploded on to the political stage at the Democratic convention in Boston. That summer, Harris helped host a fundraiser for Obama's run for the US Senate in Illinois. Four years later, she backed him against Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, a campaign in which he coined the phrase "Yes, we can!" The same chant greeted Obama when he took the stage in Chicago and embraced his wife, Michelle. But halfway through his speech, Obama broke from his teleprompter remarks to ad lib: "Yes, she can!" The crowd instinctively chanted: "Yes, she can!" in response.