Michelle Obama: “I Have Seen the Very Best of the American Spirit” | Campaign 2012 | C-SPAN

First impressions speak volumes so without even pressing play: Wow, Michelle looks so pretty! She’s an attractive lady but she usually has that no-nonsense suburban mom aura to her. She is all softened and sparkly tonight. Formal but not fussy. Nailed it! Go, go gadget Team Barack.

I like the focus on the good in people right out of the gate. Makes her sounds very humble. Strikes a good note.

Following up with the Mom stuff she skips right over the career she had built while she’s taking about the life she and the President shared prior to the White House. I know it is calculated and well considered. I know it is the right play but the omission still irks me. What is this? The fucking fifties? She was hugely successful! That’s cool! Bad ass chicks are cool. Self-empowered successful women are cool. Not to mention good role models. Arghhh. *foreheadpalm, repeat*

Into the Barack as Every-Joe-College student with the beat up car and the coffee table from the dumpster. We came from nothing and the importance of family stories. Yada, Yada. Dad works hards, suffers through. I do like the tie-ins to fatherhood, the importance of education and the American Dream of providing a better life for your kids.

Jobs you can raise a family on. Mmmmm, tell me more Michelle.

Jeeezus, healthcare may have been the right thing to do but it was completely the wrong fucking way to do it. I was rolling my eyes way back into my head but she brought me back with the comment about women making their own healthcare decisions.

The student aid bit was well written and well delivered. That just-between-us tone about their debt when they first got married was perfect. Humanizing and engaging.

Talking about how in love she is in Barack. Nice note to strike.

“For Barack, success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”

OK, I almost gagged on that line but it is a great bit. The part about explaining the news and strategizing about middle school friendships was a nice touch too.

Loving the husband,. She paints them as a family middle America can relate to. She does it well too. She’s a great speaker and sets just the right tone. Even when the puff she is saying is making me want to throw up. That’s saying something.

Um, Michelle? Those people in that room aren’t the ones you need to convince to vote. You’ve got them already.

“That story of this country; the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.”

OK, I see where the writers are going and all but seriously, you couldn’t find another word than “Hope?” Not loving the word choice. Sounds a little a desperate even thre wasn’t the whole aren’t we avoiding using that word and a certain other one this time around? Reminds people of dashed hopes and disappointment? Meh.

“Mom-in-Chief” Awww, Christ. There goes my gag reflex again. Why the hell do we have to cooperate with this fundie, right-wingbat, backwards idea that women are mothers first? Why? What the fuck? It is humiliating that a strong, self-made, successful woman would seek to solely define herself as a mother. When did any father ever do that? Ever? In the history of herstory? When? If a man’s fatherhood is emphasized it is always shown as an important part of a balanced picture of who they are. Yes, I know it makes her easier to relate to and emotional accessible or whatever but for the love of all that is holy it sucks ebola infested goat’s ass. It just makes her less of a role model. Play it out to the logical conclusion. Why go to college if you are just going to end up sticking around the home and taking care of your family? If being a mother is what makes her who she is, why shouldn’t teenage girls who can’t wait to grow up drop out of high school and raise lots of illiterate babies? OK, I’m done splitting idealistic hairs that exist in a world without poll numbers now.

Great speech. Very well done, down to every detail. It pisses me off that BHO & the D-powers-that-be seemed to lose their ability frame the message for the first 3 years of his Presidency but they seem to be on it here. It’s reassuring me.