As I am sure a lot of you know by now, I love Michelle. She's awesome. If SHE were the one running for President, I'd be just as excited if not MORE excited to vote for her. She's taken a great risk and she's made some real sacrifices to support Barack in his run for the White House, and she's the best damn closer in the country (of course I'm biased :o))
Today the NYT has an article up about Michelle and her role in the campaign. Last Night she was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and had them eating out of the palm of her hand. She's gracious and graceful, funny, smart, beautiful, and will be a great role model for little girls all over the country if she's the first lady. She came from the same streets some of them are struggling to get out of now, and she went to some of the best schools in the world. She, like Barack, left a high paying job to go work with her community. And like Hillary, she really helped Barack get where he is today. She may not be quite as involved as Hillary was with Bill, but you can see that she really is the glue holding Barack together. The more I see of Michelle, the more I love her :o)
Here she is on Leno:
The Politico wrote a piece about her interview:
Leno noted that if Obama wins, his name could become as common as "Joe Smith in 15 to 20 years," and she replied: "Probably."
Michelle Obama – like her husband, a Harvard Law School graduate — said they have learned to "work hard till the very end," in part because of the loss in the New Hampshire primary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
"It's not that we didn't work hard in New Hampshire, but you never know what's going on," Michelle Obama said. "All our rallies are really early voting because we want to make sure that people don't wait until the last minute. We also encourage people that if they vote early, they can spend Election Day helping other people get out. ... We want to make sure that all these wonderful crowds that ... are coming out for Barack are going to turn into votes in the end."
She said their two daughters "quite frankly ... could care less" about the campaign.
"When he comes home, they're like, ‘Let me show you my soccer trophy,’" she said.
The Obama campaign has bought half an hour on all the networks on Wednesday night and when Malia, who’s 10, overheard their dad telling his mother-in-law about it at the kitchen table.
"She says, ‘You're going to be on all the TV? ... Are you going to interrupt my TV?’" Michelle Obama recalled, to laughter. "He said, ‘No, we didn't buy time on Disney and Nick.’ And she said, ‘Oh, good.’ And she got up and walked away. She was just like, ‘Don't mess with my TV.’"
Discussing her husband’s recent detour from the campaign trail to Hawaii, she said his grandmother is "up and down" but "doing OK," and she expressed appreciation "for the support people have offered."
"We call her Toot – Tutu — that's Hawaiian for grandmother," Michelle Obama said. "She's the kind of person you call up, it's like, ‘Did you see my speech?’ She's like, ‘Yes, Bear.’ She calls him ‘Bear.’ ‘You were fine.’ [Laughter.] ...
"The other night, ... he had just visited her and he said, ‘You know, Toot's tough. She's been through a lot, and she is still hanging on.’ And he said, ‘If you wonder where I got my toughness, it's from Toot."
She said that when she’s out, she finds there are still "a lot of people who are concerned about the war."
"But folks are really concerned about the economy — everyone is feeling this at some level, and people are worried," she said. "And they know that we need some change. So I spend a lot of time talking to working families, women, because those are the folks who are hardest hit by this economy sometimes. And when you're trying to balance it all, kids, and you don't have access to quality child car and the check you've brought home all year doesn't buy what it used to buy, folks are really nervous about what's going on."
Leno concluded by saying: "Next time I see you, you could quite possibly be the next first lady."
She replied: "Well, people have to vote. And if they vote, that could be the case."
The title of the Article is "New to Campaigning, No Longer a Novice"
Some exerpts:
While some of Senator Barack Obama’s advisers once viewed Mrs. Obama as an unpredictable force who sometimes spoke her mind a little too much, she is now regarded within the campaign as a disciplined and effective advocate for her husband. She has also, advisers believe, gone a long way toward addressing her greatest unstated challenge: making more voters comfortable with the idea of a black first lady.
They really did used to be afraid of what Michelle may say. Not because it was particularly bad, but because of the way some people may take it. She's a fast learner, and she's been holdin' it down for the campaign on the trail. Lynn Sweet pointed out on Friday how seamless it is for Michelle to replace Barack at rallies. In some ways, her stump is better than his, but that's because she's a bit more personal. Michelle draws bigger crowds than John McCain, that's how good she is.
In one sign of the campaign’s confidence in her, Mrs. Obama is being deployed where it matters most. Since Labor Day, she has spent three days campaigning in Florida and two days each in Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as days in other swing states (sometimes two in a day).
She usually holds rallies (her biggest was with 11,000 people in Gainesville, Fla., last week) or small round tables on the needs of working women and military families, the two groups she speaks about the most. On Saturday, she delivered the Democratic Party’s weekly radio address, urging her husband’s supporters to turn out on Election Day.
Yeah, Michelle rocks, here's what's probably my favorite interview she's done which was on Ellen:
Here's her bio from the convention:
I'm working on a slideshow, Photobucket is being difficult right now, so once it saves I'll post it :o) Until then here are some of the pics:
Here's her DNC speech, which was awesome:
Barack himself freely admits that she's better at speeches than he is ~lol~
Here is is stumping in Ohio last Friday:
And here's the behind the scenes vid from the DNC, which has tons of Michelle Footage:
Don't forget, we still have 7 days until the election, so get out there and VOLUNTEER & VOTE EARLY if you can! Barack was phonebanking again this weekend:
Also, these are the cutest dolls ever (Barack and Joe):
UPDATE: PLEASE don't concern troll in the comments. I understand we need to accept the challenges, and I'm not saying we should "bury our heads in the sand" but the entire purpose of the Hope Diaries is to calm people down. If you want to concern troll, there are tons of other diaries to do it in. I'm anxious enough about this election without adding your concerns to the list.
So keep it positive people!
UPDATE #2 Here's the second pic from the bus that everyone was looking for:
UPDATE #3: There's something wrong with photobucket and slideshows, so here are some more pics:
UPDATE #4 Barack will be on the Daily Show tomorrow night! He'll be there via satellite, but at least he'll be on! I'm still hoping he'll stop by the Colbert Report for the "bump" :o)
UPDATE #5: Obama rally live in VA: