The New York Times today is confirming what we’ve known now for years—Michelle Obama is at the top of her class among Obama surrogates:
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.
(snip)
But when she is at political events — occasionally with Mr. Obama, though much more often on her own — she is drawing large crowds, speaking with new confidence and generally avoiding gaffes as she confronts one of the trickiest tasks in the campaign. Many voters view first families as symbols of the nation, and Mrs. Obama is selling a package that for large numbers of Americans poses a real change.
Below is part 1 of 2 from her appearance on Leno last night, where she flaunted her high-fashion and fiscally conservative sense. As usual, she was charming, funny, poised, intelligent, touching, insightful, understanding, down-to-earth and magnanimous. Based on how she’s carried herself during the election, by the time February 2009 rolls around, I’m not going to be the only young adult telling myself, "for the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country’s first lady."
Later, when Jay Leno goaded her into criticizing Palin’s $150K bling splurge, she responded with her now trademark class:
Obama said she and her husband have a policy of spending their own money on their clothes. But she said she wanted to be "empathetic."
"A V.P. pick, it's like being shot out of a cannon. All of a sudden you're at the center of attention, and you want to look good," said Michelle Obama, adding she has never met Palin. "You're living in your home, minding your business, and all of a sudden you're on the national stage and everyone's watching."
Could you imagine anyone from the McCain campaign returning the favor?
Here’s part 2 of 2 of her appearance:
NBC’s clip here.
Some side notes:
- Malia was highly critical of Obama’s 30 minute ad buy, which would displace some of her own primetime viewing.
- Michelle doesn’t pay attention to the polls, and she views us as the underdogs.
- If (when) Obama wins, the name "Barack" will be as commonplace as Joe.
- Michelle reads in the paper about Barack buying her flowers before she actually receives the flowers.