Campaign Action
Update 5 PM EDT DS: This is it folks, the arc of history is about to bend before our eyes. The first woman nominated by one of the two major parties for President of the United States. I feel tingly!
Update 2 PM EDT DS: See that petition to the right? We'd really like to fill that up with lots of signatures so we can deliver it to the First Lady as a show of our admiration and thanks for what she did last night.
Even a few normally grumpy right-wing pundits are reluctantly genuflecting before Michelle Obama’s 2016 Democratic National Convention address last night. It was a masterpiece at every level, from the subtle policy implications to the masterfully crafted anxieties of an everyday parent thrust into the largest public venue on Earth, unable to escape the laser-like spotlight tracking the Obama family’s every move.
I believe her speech shone so brightly because, regardless of whatever professional touches were added by talented writers in the creation process, it sounded exactly like a speech Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States, and mother of two adolescent girls, would give freely, with dignity and passion. Michelle Obama did all that, and what’s more, she made it look easy; the mark of a true expert in any endeavor, a speech full of heartfelt material many listeners could visualize themselves giving.
There were many brilliant lines, subtle reminders, all unified seamlessly under the heartfelt concerns of a loving mother. One of the best I’ve seen resonate with parents who did watch it, was this insightful recollection of seeing her two young girls off to school under Secret Service protection. Full speech below.
Equality for women is not an issue solely for women. It affects us all. How many Einsteins and Hawking’s and Mozarts have we lost through the ages by systematically relegating over half our population to second class citizenship? How many Jonas Salk’s and Edward Jenner’s could we have, if we had doubled our scientific and leadership pool of talent centuries ago? Tonight and and throughout this week, we will all get to not only witness one giant leap forward in that struggle, we progressives have the privilege of being an integral part of it!
It’s been a long, long road for this half of humanity, many paid with their lives. Some of my faves include one of the first notably brilliant women in history, Hypatia, a visionary researcher at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. She was put to painful death by what might be construed as arch-fundamentalists nowadays. In our own time and country there are too many to list: Martha Washington, the first First Lady, Mary Ludwig Hays aka Molly Pitcher, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B Anthony, Sally Ride, and now Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Need we mention the extra-ordinary everyday women of valor: Mary Edwards Walker the first and only female to receive the Medal of Honor, the teachers who accepted certain death shielding young children during the Sandy Hook massacre with their own bodies, Antoinette Tuff who talked down a shooter and saved countless lives.
This was my personal fave line: it’s crystal clear, this is both imminently plausible, fascinating and rare in portrayal, and incredibly humanizing in effect:
She shared a touching story about the first day she sent her children off to school in January 2009, after the Obamas moved into the White House: “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?’”
What a wonderful, honest, courageous, intimate look into the real-world implications of winning the WH while raising young children. There’s no doubt in my mind: that wave to kids going off to a new school on a cold wintry day really happened, it was not a soundbite thrown out casually.
Different lines hit different folks deeply. Some listeners felt the powerful reminder about living in a house built by slaves hit home the hardest. Others found the part about American being great despite TrumpCo trashing the nation at every opportunity.
Seriously I don’t think it was the best speech of the night. I think it was the best Democratic convention speech of my lifetime. — Eddie C
But what we all have in common is the First lady spoke to those who have been intentionally disenfranchised by the same tired old ideology of hate and division paraded about in code and, lately, right out in the open, by the GOP, aimed at enraging ordinary Americans into voting against their own economic interests with dire results.
Here’s the full speech courtesy of PBS:
I know there are a few young people here these days, at least if our polls and analytics are accurate, so if you’ve didn’t see it live, here’s Barack Obama’s 2004 DNC speech, the one that shot him into national fame overnight and begin his rise that would put him in the WH four years later. It was magic, like last night.
Over 2000 shares on FB, thanks folks! Now, c’mon Tweeple! Use hashtag #MichelleObama!
Make an impact by driving the narrative and signing the petition above!
