Michelle Obama is on a roll herself in Europe. I'm thinking there's some serious President AND First Lady Envy going on over there, and I for one think it's much more fun to be loved than hated. Anywhoo, Michelle got a bit teary eyed during her speech today:
I'm looking for a full transcript of her speech, but I did find a helpful Pool report (excerpts below). Just watching that report from NBC's nightly news made me tear up a bit myself. Those girls were freaking out and screaming over OUR First Lady, not the Jonas Brothers or some other teen celeb. I think it's rather amazing.
Here is a little bit of the pool report. You can read the entire thing here
About the school: According to documents compiled by the White House, 90 percent of the students are from minority ethnic backgrounds. Two thirds speak English as a second language. There are 55 languages spoken at the school. It is what Americans would call a "public" school, meaning it is primarily government funded. No ethnic group makes up more than 21 percent of the student body, which is almost 1,000 girls, ages 11 to 17. More than 200 remarkably behaved students sat patiently for nearly two hours in the auditorium waiting for Obama's arrival. For much of that time the recent movie version of Mamma Mia was projected on the wall, allowing the girls to intermittently groove to old Abba hits, as sung by middle-aged actors. There is a dress code at the school: grey sweaters and skirts, black tights, flat shoes. Roughly ten percent of the girls in the auditorium wore Muslim headscarves.
The shrieking continued when Obama was introduced to the auditorium. She was welcomed by the school's head teacher Jo Dibb, and took a seat on the right side of the stage with LeBaron to watch a series of presentations by the students, several of which were quite good. The program started with a solo performance by a talented young lady, who it was announced had already been accepted into an arts school to further her music. The song had a chorus with the phrase "There can be miracles when you believe." Then a group of students came on stage and with the help of a Powerpoint-like presentation explained the "learning to lead initiative," which included student-directed efforts at fundraising, and communications work. That was followed by a brief set of student-acted scenes from William Shakespeare's The Tempest, with swords and a wine bottle as props. (The drama was disrupted at one point when one of the actresses accidentally crushed the fake boulder that was also on stage as a prop.) This was followed by a series of solo and group dance performances. One dance was set to "I Am Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. The senior choir was the last act, with a rousing rendition of a song called "I'm going all the way." It had a funky groove, and Obama rocked her head to the beat and kept time by rocking her foot. After the song ended, Obama slapped the hand of the young soloist. The girl literally hopped with excitement, and then held her hand to her mouth, as if to hide a blush. The students presented LeBaron and Obama with gifts. And then Obama spoke, at a podium decorated with two vases of sunflowers. She took the microphone out of its cradle and held it in her hand.
And now, pictures of the hugfest. I love how she really seems to be HUGGING a person, not one of those cold impersonal grab and releases. Although I bet her Secret Service wishes she was a bit LESS of a hugger. LOL:
While the pundits and others marvel at her approval ratings, they miss why people love her so much. She's just so GENUINE and real. She doesn't have time to live up to other people's expectations of herself because she is who she is, and she's comfortable with that. I admit, I'm a bit jealous of everyone that got a hug today, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I helped send her there in the first place, and she's doing far better in her new role than many had predicted.
UPDATE Here's another video report, h/t Scarce: