Tag Archive for 'Barack Obama'

Given right wing harping regarding how much Michelle Obama loves her country, she took care of business Monday night.  In her dynamic and direct style, she shared tales of her and Obama’s childhoods and adult lives as professionals, parents, and Americans. (Full text of speech here).  Can there be any doubt now that Michelle Obama LOVES America?

I also love that Michelle Obama reiterated a common theme for the campaign –  community service.

Barack stood up that day, and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about “The world as it is” and “The world as it should be.” And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and settle for the world as it is – even when it doesn’t reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves – to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be. And isn’t that the great American story? . . .

All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do – that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be. . . I believe that each of us – no matter what our age or background or walk of life – each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.

An Obama Presidency will call on us all to be better Americans, to step up and do our part in our communities. It takes a village. . . and over the last 8 years we’ve become increasingly isolated not just in our divisive foreign policy but in our individual struggles to stay afloat and thrive in a failing economy that grew the gap between rich and poor.  And a call to community action will invest us in not just our own successes, but that of everyone in our village. Though cliche, we are only as strong as our weakest link.

Hope has been failing me of late, but tonight Michelle Obama brought the focus back for me.  I have more hope because the effervescent, articulate, opinionated woman speaks volumes about her husband.  Here is a man that is married to a strong woman, one who is going to speak up on behalf of all American women when it comes to their roles as mothers concerned about health insurance and quality education for their children and as professionals who want to be paid equally for a job done by men.  She’s a no-nonsense first lady for the 21st century with Jackie-O style, not a wilting wall flower of the past.

From their “terrorist fist jab” to their interviews as a couple, their marriage is a true partnership.  Though the GOP claims to be the party of family values,  while engaged in the adultery, prostitution, and gay sex it condemns, the Obama family looks to be a beacon of values in the Democratic party.  They’re two professionals from modest means, raising their children, and from the looks of their interactions — they’re a couple still very much in love, rather than simply committed to the benefits of the appropriate political marriage.  The Obamas are great role models for Gen Y; the represent the kind of marriage we envision, one of equality.   That type of pairing was not necessarily available to our parents, and definititely not to our grandparents.

Finally, the obvious affection the Obamas have for their children leads me to believe Obama is the best bridge to the future.

From the anecdotes in her speech, to Sen. Obama’s banter with his kids via satellite, these parents are completely committed to their children.  Which brings to mind the old saying that every parent wants more for his children than he had for himself.  The Obama girls are daily reminders to Sen. Obama of high stakes.  The course we take on global warming, foreign diplomacy, health care, and education will be felt by the generations coming up.   And his commitment to a better world for his daughters is a commitment to a better world for all of the nation’s children.

He knows that thread that connects us – our belief in America’s promise, our commitment to our children’s future – is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we disagree.

Unlike McCain, a kept husband that clings to his past military service, the Obama Family is no different than every other couple trying to raise their kids as best they can.  And importantly, they’re not likely to forget their past or their current privileges, privileges that many Americans can’t claim as their own.  Though they have more money, their experiences reflect many American families, whether identifying as someone in a single parent family, struggling to make ends meet, or comfortably middle class.

Monday night, Michelle Obama proved that contrary to the fearmongering smears, her family is as American as apple pie.  And not liking apple pie is just unAmerican.