The election is in 100 days. Here’s what we know.

Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. (Dsk/AFP/Getty Images)

By Chris Cillizza July 31 at 5:48 PM - The Washington Post

The two party conventions are over. The first general election debate is in 56 days. The general election is 99 days away. Now seems like a good time to look at what we know about the clash between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Here are five things I think I know.

1. There is no Trump 2.0.

I’ve been saying this for a while now. There is no pivot. There is no new and improved version. There is just Donald Trump — take him or leave him. Ask yourself this: What successful 70-year-old man — in the immediate aftermath of one of the greatest victories of his life — decides to do things totally differently? The answer is no 70-year-old man, particularly one with the level of supreme confidence displayed by Trump.

“There is no other Donald Trump,” Clinton said in her acceptance speech last week in Philadelphia. “This is it.” That’s right. For Republicans desperately hoping that Trump stops attacking members of his own party or takes a break from Twitter, it’s just not going to happen. Trump is going to be Trump; Republicans have to decide whether that’s who they want to vote for.

July 30, 2016The campaign buses as they pass through Johnstown, Pa., on the second day of the tour. Melina Mara/The Washington Post

2. Hillary Clinton is going to play it safe.

Clinton’s defining trait as a politician is her cautiousness. She doesn’t leap before she looks. Ever. Her selection of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as her vice presidential running mate — and reporting that suggests Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack finished second in the veepstakes — makes clear that Clinton isn’t going to take any major risks in the coming days of the campaign.

What that caution reflects is a belief — never stated publicly — among Clinton and her senior aides that if she does the basic blocking and tackling in swing states, makes no major mistakes and just keeps letting Trump talk, she wins. Based on the electoral map and Trump’s demographic problems with Hispanic voters, that looks like a smart strategy today.

3. Trump has a very narrow electoral path.

If Trump loses this fall, many Republicans will heap blame on him and the campaign he is running. Some of that blame will be fair. Much of it won’t be, for this reason: No Republican presidential nominee starts off with a 50-50 shot of beating their Democratic opponent because of the GOP’s huge disadvantages in the electoral map.

Consider this: Eighteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in each of the six elections between 1992 and 2012. They yield 242 electoral votes. There are 13 states that have voted for the Republican nominee in every presidential election since 1992. They yield 102 electoral votes. So, if Clinton wins the 18 states in the “Blue Wall” and wins Florida (and its 29 electoral votes), the election is over. She is president.

4. Clinton and Trump may be the only people each other can beat.

We are dealing with two very unpopular nominees — the two least popular major-party picks in modern presidential politics. These are two deeply flawed candidates with problems that almost certainly can’t be fixed.

For Trump, the issue is that people simply struggle to see him as someone who could actually be president. His short temper, tendency to overstate and seeming unwillingness to back away from his more divisive rhetoric make Trump less than ideal as a major-party nominee.

Meanwhile, Clinton labors under deep doubt about her honesty and trustworthiness — concerns that were only exacerbated by her mishandling of the email controversy regarding her electronic correspondence at the State Department. Clinton has rhetorically bowed to the idea that she has work to do to convince people — “I get it that some people just don’t know what to make of me,” she said in her acceptance speech at the convention — but it’s unclear whether anything she could say or do would change minds.

The simple fact is that Trump is the only Republican Clinton can beat and Clinton is the only Democrat Trump can beat.

5. The next three months are going to be incredibly nasty.

When you have two candidates who are as disliked as these two, the path to victory isn’t to make yourself more likable — it’s to make the other person even less well liked. Money spent on ads trying to make either Clinton or Trump more appealing to the electorate is almost certainly a waste.

What that means is that you are going to hear a lot more about “Crooked Hillary” from Trump and a lot more about Trump’s controversial comments about women, Hispanics and, well, almost everyone else from Clinton.

Brace yourself: It’s going to be the nastiest 99 days you have ever seen in a political campaign.

Chris Cillizza writes “The Fix,” a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House. Follow @thefix

Michelle Obama's Speech for the Ages

The First Lady took to the stage at the Democratic National Convention, and united a divided hall.

The Atlantic

Most convention speeches are forgotten almost before they’re finished. But tonight in Philadelphia, Michelle Obama delivered a speech that will be replayed, quoted, and anthologized for years. It was as pure a piece of political oratory as this campaign has offered, and instantly entered the pantheon of great convention speeches.

Obama stepped out onto a stage in front of a divided party, including delegates who had booed almost every mention of the presumptive nominee. And she delivered a speech that united the hall, bringing it to its feet.

She did it, moreover, her own way—forming a striking contrast with the night’s other speakers. She did it without shouting at the crowd. Without overtly slamming Republicans. Without turning explicitly negative. Her speech was laden with sharp barbs, but she delivered them calmly, sometimes wryly, biting her lower lip, hitting her cadence. It was a masterful performance.

She offered an upbeat vision of how far America had come, and—like her husband 12 years before—put herself forward as living evidence of what American ideals might accomplish. “That is the story of this country,” she said.

The story that has brought me to this stage tonight. The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

When Obama first said that she wakes up every morning in a house built by slaves in a commencement address a month ago, right-wing commentators were quick to attack her as unpatriotic. Instead of backing away from the sentiment, though, she expanded on it. She explained it. She offered it as evidence of American possibility.

And then a First Lady often attacked for lacking patriotism, a woman accused of not loving her country, turned the table on her critics:

So look. 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. And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth.

It was an attempt to frame the terms of the 2016 election. Nearly two-thirds of Hispanics, more than four in five African Americans, believe that America’s best days lie ahead. Michelle Obama didn’t shy away from the worst of what her country has done, but she insisted that it is improving, that it is already great, and that it can be greater still.

Few politicians have lost by betting on the optimism of the American people.

Michelle Obama delivers a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton

By Krissah Thompson and Ed O'Keefe

Michelle Obama publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton for the first time during a primetime address in Philadelphia, giving her full support to her husband’s former secretary of state.

The first lady, who is one of the most popular political figures in the Democratic Party, said “in this election — I’m with her.”

“When she didn’t win the election eight years ago, she didn’t get angry or disillusioned,” Obama said.

“Hillary did not pack up and go home because as a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. She proudly stepped up again to serve as secretary of state … She could have decided that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs… Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.”

Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, but she had a pointed critique of the Republican nominee.

[Transcript: Read Michelle Obama’s full speech from the 2016 DNC]

“When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well informed," Obama said.

Obama marveled that it has been eight years since she stood before a similar crowd asking that Democrats to nominate her husband to be president. But she lamented that political discourse has become so harsh. Regardless, she urged Democrats to remain focused on keeping the White House.

“When they go low, we go high,” she said, repeating a mantra she heard as a child.

She delivered a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton — touting her “lifelong devotion to our nation’s children -- not just her own daughter – who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion.”

[The Take: Democrats’ gathering goes off its feel-good script]

Speakers who came to the main stage earlier in the program, were booed at the mention of Clinton’s name and greeted with loud shouts of “Bernie!” Obama, however, received warmer treatment. Members of the crowd stood and hoisted “Michelle” signs. Delegates, volunteers and reporters filled the Wells Fargo Arena during her address, sitting in the aisles in some sections.

“When I think about the kind of president I want for my girls and for all children, that’s who I want,” Obama added. “I want someone with the proven strength to persevere. Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously. Someone who understands that the issues that a president tackles are not black or white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.”

Turning personal and emotional toward the end, Obama marveled at the journey of her family in the last eight years.

“I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I’ve watched my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all of our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States,” she said.

“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great,” she added. “That somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on earth.”

She said her daughters and the nation’s children need a president “who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white.”

[Cue the media speculation about a Michelle Obama presidential run]

Earlier Monday, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters that they are eager to have Obama hit the campaign trail “as her schedule permits.”

Her remarks are an important moment in the final year of her husband’s presidency. While she has not been personally close to the Clintons in the years since their bruising 2008 campaign, her husband’s legacy now rests on the success of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Krissah Thompson began writing for The Washington Post in 2001. She has been a business reporter, covered presidential campaigns and written about civil rights and race. More recently, she has covered the first lady's office, politics and culture. Follow @Krissah30

Ed O’Keefe is covering the 2016 presidential campaign. He's covered presidential and congressional politics, Congress and federal agencies and spent a brief time covering the Iraq war. Follow @edatpost

Michelle Obama may be the only person on Earth that Donald Trump won’t attack. But why?

First lady Michelle Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25. Here are some highlights from that speech. (Video: Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post; Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Aaron Blake

Last week, we found out that Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, is apparently a fan of Michelle Obama's. In explaining her inadvertent plagiarizing of the first lady's 2008 convention speech, Melania Trump's speechwriter said, "A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama."

Is it possible that Melania Trump's husband agrees with her?

As I noted last week, it's not that unusual for prospective or actual first ladies to say nice things about one another. There is something of a kinship, it seems, and they don't often get involved in the political sniping.

[The ugly truth about the White House and its history of slavery]

But here's the thing: Obama has now delivered two speeches that were very tough on Donald Trump — albeit without mentioning him by name in either. There was one in an early June commencement speechand now on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention. Trump's response to each one has been silence.

Update: Trump has now broken his silence -- to praise Obama. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Trump says of the speech that clearly targeted him in all but name: "I thought her delivery was excellent. I thought she did a very good job. I liked her speech."

And indeed, despite Obama's status as a first lady many conservative Republicans love to hate, Trump doesn't appear to have ever really gone after her for anything, really.

That's surprising from a guy who is nothing if not fond of doing things to stir up the GOP base. This is also a guy, mind you, who doesn't take incoming political fire without responding in kind. "I'm a counter-puncher," he has said repeatedly during this campaign. It's his explanation for many of his feuds.

It's also not as though he's opposed to engaging in political fights with women. Rosie O'Donnell, Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Elizabeth Warren — the list goes on and on. And we all know how Trump feels about Obama's husband.

And yet, even as he tweetstormed during the big speeches of the convention Monday night — especially during speeches by Warren, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders — not a word about the first lady, even as she made a very forceful case against him in no uncertain terms.

[Full transcript and video: Michelle Obama's emotional Monday night speech at the DNC]

"I want someone with the proven strength to persevere," she said. "Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously. Someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can't have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady, and measured, and well-informed."

It didn't escape notice:

"Donald Trump ranted about all the DNC speakers on Twitter — except one," Business Insider said.

"There’s One Person Donald Trump Did Not Try to Mess With Last Night: Michelle Obama," Slate said.

Some indeed painted it as Trump not wanting to pick a fight with a powerful and eloquent first lady who gave a fantastic speech.

But Trump's feuds are never quite so calculated. If he doesn't worry about "counter-punching" with Pope Francis — the pope! — why would he shy away from doing the same with Obama? This is not a guy who knows how to just let something go or can be prevailed upon to avoid an unhelpful political feud.

There is something about the first lady, it seems, that's different for Trump. And looking back, it's not clear that he has ever really targeted her in a forceful way.

In fact, four years ago at this very juncture in the presidential process, Trump actually praised her Democratic National Convention speech.

The year 2012 was not back when Trump was a Democrat, mind you. This was after he spent years questioning whether Obama's husband was born in the United States and was a legitimate president. His other tweets during that year's Democratic convention weren't nearly so kind.

And yet, praise for Michelle Obama.

Earlier that year, Trump did take a little dig at the first lady.

But that appears to be about the worst thing he's said about her. Other tweets mentioning her include asking what people thought of her haircut.

And he complimented her and her husband on their 20th anniversary in 2012.

Trump has always been a fan of stirring up controversy and appealing to the GOP base's antipathy toward everything Obama — except, apparently, for Michelle Obama. Not yet, anyway.

Here are six times Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has insulted women, from Rosie O'Donnell to Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi. (Sarah Parnass and Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post)

Michelle Obama: 'When they go low, we go high'

First lady Michelle Obama waves to the crowd before delivering remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By Sunlen Serfaty and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 5:53 PM ET, Tue July 26, 2016

Philadelphia (CNN) Michelle Obama cast the presidential race as one between a positive role model for children -- in Hillary Clinton -- and a damaging one -- in Donald Trump -- in the marquee speech on the Democratic National Convention's opening night.

The first lady never mentioned Trump by name, but leveraging her popularity, she made a rare, if not unprecedented, foray into partisan politics to knock the Republican nominee.

Obama condemned "the hateful language that we hear from public figures on TV," saying that "our motto is, when they go low, we go high."

And in a shot at Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, Obama discussed raising her children in a White House that was built by slaves.

Memorable lines from the DNC's opening night

"Don't let anyone tell you that this country isn't great. This right now is the greatest country on earth," the first lady said.

Obama electrified the crowd at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, taking the stage just after 10 p.m. ET and -- in a departure from the political attacks on display all day -- making the case that, because of her character and temperament, Clinton is the role model she'd like her daughters to see in the Oval Office.

Even Trump, who Obama was implicitly criticizing, praised her remarks.

"I thought her delivery was excellent," Trump told The Hollywood Reporter. "I thought she did a very good job. I liked her speech."

It was a remarkable embrace of the prime-time stage for Obama, who was reluctant about the spotlight that came when her husband, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, launched his presidential campaign against Clinton in 2007.

"To understand the journey she's taken as a reluctant conscript on the public scene, to come here and command that stage the way she did tonight was extraordinary -- and I think did for Hillary Clinton what no one else has done to this point," said David Axelrod, a top Obama strategist on the 2008 campaign and now a CNN political commentator.

Symone Sanders, former national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign, praised Obama's speech for its historical significance.

"The Obamas were the first African-American First Family that we had and they did not eradicate racism in this country. We do not live in this post-racial society, where race doesn't matter, where the struggle is not there for people of color in this country," she told CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday on "New Day."

"And I think Michelle Obama went up on that stage and embodied everything that is great about America," Sanders added. "She gave us hope but she also told us we still have work to do."

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who spoke before Obama, praised her speech for its "spirit."

"She spoke from the heart. You felt her energy. You felt her spirit," he said Tuesday on "New Day."

"I think that what people expected was a speech but what they really got was a sharing, a convening of spirit. And when she talked about her kids, that really affected me."

Dems open convention without Wasserman Schultz

The first lady began discussing watching her daughters grow up in the White House -- saying she remembers watching them go off to school for the first time.

"At that moment, I realized that our time in the White House would form the foundation for who they would become, and how we managed this experience could truly make or break them," she said.

She added: "This election -- every election -- is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of our lives. And I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility -- only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be President of the United States. And that is our friend, Hillary Clinton."

Obama told the electrified audience that "we are always stronger together," saying she wants a president "who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters."

"I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be, and that's why in this election, I'm with her," Obama said.

Michelle Obama hits back against 'hateful' rhetoric

In a nod to Clinton's historic status as the first female presumptive nominee of a major U.S. political party, she said: "Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States."

She called Clinton "a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children."

Temperament and experience is something Michelle Obama has been referencing a lot these days -- dipping her toe into 2016 politics by taking veiled shots at Donald Trump in speeches over the past few months.

"Right now, when we're hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been -- and will always be -- our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States," Mrs. Obama said at a Nowruz celebration at the White House in April.

"Here in America, we don't give in to our fears. We don't build up walls to keep people out," she said during a commencement address at City College of New York this June.

Members of the media stand during the event

Powerful surrogate

Michelle Obama is seen as having a unique and essential role to play for Clinton, key to keeping the Obama coalition of women, African Americans, Hispanics and young people engaged.

The first lady could turn into a powerful surrogate to boost the presumptive Democratic nominee, with her high favorability ratings.

"I think Hillary Clinton is a phenomenal woman," the first lady said when asked about her at a White House event in April, "and I've gotten to know her, and I think she's made some pretty major contributions over the course of her life."

However, she took the stage to make the case for a woman she hasn't always supported.

During the bruising 2008 Democratic primary fight, Michelle Obama often took veiled swipes at her husband's opponent.

"They said there was an inevitable candidate, that there was someone who was going to make this race virtually impossible. And I thought, wow, it's over already?" Obama said in an interview with CBS in the fall of 2007, in the throes of the Democratic primary.

"So, our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House," Michelle Obama said from the campaign trail in the early state of Iowa in August of 2007.

But theirs was a relationship that grew once the campaign came to a close.

Shortly after Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama, Michelle praised Clinton for the way she came around to supporting her husband.

"From the minute after this was done, right, she has always been just cordial and open. I've called her. I've talked to her. She's given me advice about the kids," Obama told Larry King in October of 2008, "We've talked at length about this kind of stuff, how you feel, how you react. She has been amazing. She is a real pro and a woman with character."

The convention stage is a platform that Obama is familiar with by now, delivering high-profile speeches in both the 2008 and 2012 conventions for her husband, speeches that drew heavily on the Obama family's personal story.

"Every step of the way since that clear day, February, 19 months ago, when, with little more than our faith in each other and a hunger for change, we joined my husband, Barack Obama, on the improbable journey that has led us to this moment," Mrs. Obama said in Denver at the DNC in 2008. "But each of us comes here also by way of our own improbable journey."

She hit similar themes, weaving in their personal narrative, four years later.

"Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love," she said in 2012 in Charlotte.

CNN's Eugene Scott contributed to this story.

The Michelle Obama Speech That Brought Down The House At The DNC

Michelle Broder Van Dyke

The first lady endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on the opening day of the Democratic convention in an emotional speech that led the crowd to chant, “We love you.”

On Monday, first lady Michelle Obama delivered an impassioned endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president at the Democratic National Convention.

She talked about how Clinton “didn’t get angry or disillusioned” when she lost eight years ago to Barack Obama, and made the case for her to become the first female president in the history of the US.

At the end of the speech, the audience gave the first lady a standing ovation, while screaming “We love you, Michelle!”

Read the full transcript of the speech here:

Thank you all. Thank you so much. You know, it’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought my husband should be president.

Remember how I told you about his character and convictions, his decency and his grace, the traits that we’ve seen every day that he’s served our country in the White House?

I also told you about our daughters, how they are the heart of our hearts, the center of our world. And during our time in the White House, we’ve had the joy of watching them grow from bubbly little girls into poised young women, a journey that started soon after we arrived in Washington.

When they set off for their first day at their new school, I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just 7 and 10 years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men with guns.

And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window, and the only thing I could think was, what have we done?

See, because at that moment I realized that our time in the White House would form the foundation for who they would become and how well we managed this experience could truly make or break them.

That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight, how we urge them to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith. How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as president and first lady because we know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls, but the children across this country, kids who tell us, I saw you on TV, I wrote a report on you for school.

Kids like the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope and he wondered, is my hair like yours?

And make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls that is what we’re deciding, not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, this election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives.

And I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton.

That’s right.

See, I trust Hillary to lead this country because I’ve seen her lifelong devotion to our nation’s children, not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion, kids who take the long way to school to avoid the gangs, kids who wonder how they’ll ever afford college, kids whose parents don’t speak a word of English but dream of a better life, kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be.

You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives, advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer, fighting for children’s health care as first lady, and for quality child care in the Senate.

And when she didn’t win the nomination eight years ago, she didn’t get angry or disillusioned.

Hillary did not pack up and go home, because as a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments.

So she proudly stepped up to serve our country once again as secretary of state, traveling the globe to keep our kids safe.

And look, there were plenty of moments when Hillary could have decided that this work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs. But here’s the thing. What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.

And when I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children, that’s what I want.

I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black-and-white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.

Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed.

I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

And we give back even when we’re struggling ourselves, because we know that there is always someone worse off. And there but for the grace of God go I.

I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters, a president who truly believes in the vision that our Founders put forth all those years ago that we are all created equal, each a beloved part of the great American story.

And when crisis hits, we don’t turn against each other. No, we listen to each other, we lean on each other, because we are always stronger together.

And I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be. And that’s why in this election I’m with her.

You see, Hillary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only, it’s about leaving something better for our kids. That’s how we’ve always moved this country forward, by all of us coming together on behalf of our children, folks who volunteer to coach that team, to teach that Sunday school class, because they know it takes a village.

Heroes of every color and creed who wear the uniform and risk their lives to keep passing down those blessings of liberty, police officers and the protesters in Dallas who all desperately want to keep our children safe.

People who lined up in Orlando to donate blood because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club.

Leaders like Tim Kaine who show our kids what decency and devotion look like.

Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.

That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

So, look, 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!

And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth, a leader who is worthy of my girls’ promise and all our kids’ promise, a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children.

So in this election, we cannot sit back and hope that everything works out for the best. We cannot afford to be tired or frustrated or cynical. No, hear me. Between now and November, we need to do what we did eight years ago and four years ago.

We need to knock on every door, we need to get out every vote, we need to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country into electing Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America!

So let’s get to work. Thank you all and God bless.

Maz Jobrani: Building Cultural Bridges, One Laugh at a Time

Marsha James wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Maz Jobrani likes to make people laugh.

The Iranian-American knew early in life that he wanted to become an actor or comedian. His path to stardom was a long journey.

His immigrant story is not unusual. He was born in Iran’s capital Tehran, but grew up in America.

Jobrani came to the U.S when he was six years old, just before the Iranian revolution in 1979. He and his parents moved to California where he attended school.

Jobrani says he grew up around a lot of people that made him laugh. His introduction to acting was an audition for a school play.

“And when I was 12, I ended up trying out for the school play and I fell in love with being on stage...”

Jobrani says he had many friends who were funnier than he, adding to his interest in being a comedian.

“A lot of my friends were the funny people in school. I have friends from when I grew up that were funnier than I was!”

Jobrani tried a conventional career path, studying political science in college and even starting a Ph.D. program at UCLA.

But the comedy of Eddie Murphy was a more powerful influence.

“The reason I’m a comedian is because I’m a fan of comedy. I think what inspired that was Eddie Murphy because back then I used to love watching comedy and I believe I discovered Eddie Murphy probably by watching Saturday Night Live and from there I just wanted to be like Eddie Murphy.’

Now as a full-time comedian, Maz Jobrani uses comedy to bridge the cultural divide caused by Islamic extremism. His performances bothridicule that extremism and challenge American stereotypes of Muslims.

And his recent movie does the same.

Maz Jobrani co-wrote and stars in “Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero.”

He says the film playfully makes fun of American preconceptions of the Middle East.

“You know most people when they see people of Middle Eastern descent on film and television in America, they tend to see people in the news, burning flags and protesting and being anti-American. We wanted to make a movie about a guy who loves America, who wins the green card lottery to come to America from Iran. Who wants to be a cop like his hero Steven McQueen was back in the day when he used to watch Steven McQueen movies. But once he comes to America, he realizes that America of the 21st century doesn’t embrace immigrants the way he thought they would and the only job he can find is working as a security guard in a Persian grocery store and from there he has to go on to save the world.”

Jobrani also says the movie sends a message to Americans that they have not seen before.

“I feel that this comedy does have a message, it has a message of peace, it has a message of diplomacy. More importantly, it has a message of showing Iranians in a very different light then what were used to seeing Iranians. I show them in a fun light. I show them in a light that I don’t think most Americans are used to seeing.”

Maz Jobrani can turn that which frightens him into something funny.

For example, the comedian was alarmed when he first heard the phrase “axis of evil.” President George Bush used the term to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

But he soon realized it could also make a great name for a series of shows. So, in 2005, the ‘Axis of Evil Comedy’ Tour came to be.

The shows featured Jobrani and three other comedians of Middle Eastern descent. The group first appeared on the American television channel Comedy Central.

Jobrani says it is always a good feeling when people laugh at your jokes.

“It’s a good feeling because then you realize that it’s working, it’s relating. The worst feeling is when you’re doing stand-up and for whatever reason there is a crowd that doesn’t relate to you. Those are the nights when you think to yourself, 'Wow, I can’t wait to get off the stage.' But when they get you it’s a great feeling and it’s probably one of the reasons you stay up there. It’s this drug that keeps feeding you. It’s kind of like what I would assume surfing could be because every laugh is like a wave. You want to catch that wave and ride it out until the next laugh comes. So whether it’s doing stand-up comedy or putting on a movie, your goal as a comedian is to make people laugh.”

Life as a comedian has been good for Maz Jobrani. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows. He has toured much of the world and performed for the King of Jordan.

Maz Jobrani also has a bestselling book, ‘I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV.” It tells the story about his life in a very funny way.

Billie Holiday - How Deep Is The Ocean

How can I tell you what is in my heart?
How can I measure each and every part?
How can I tell you how much I love you?
How can I measure just how much I do?

How much do I love you?
I'll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?

How many times a day do I think of you?
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?

How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?

And if I ever lost you
How much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?


Songwriters: IRVING BERLIN
© EMI Music Publishing, IMAGEM U.S. LLC
For non-commercial use only.
Data From: LyricFind