An Afternoon with Michelle Obama

I know this is not a political blog and it is not my intention to persuade or influence anyone about their voting choices but (and you knew that was coming), yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of hearing Michelle Obama speak and it was an inspiring, uplifting event, even for a hardened cynic like myself. I am here to tell you that this was the real deal, and I am pretty good at spotting hypocrisy in all its dimensions. She is every bit as eloquent as her husband and, here is the important part, every bit as genuine. Lord only knows how she does it day in and day out, but she could only do it this well if she was being herself. You can't fake sincerity--oh, you can try, but the truth seeps out. Nothing emanated from Michelle Obama except reality as she and her husband know it: that he is up to the task and we better take him up on his offer.

The venue was a local college and there were about 2000 people in attendance, although it felt quite intimate. She arrived on time and spoke for over an hour. Security was surprisingly indiscreet, and even though I am sure everything was tightly orchestrated, it didn't feel like it. More like, Michelle Obama dropped by to tell her story.

She grew up on the South side of Chicago in a working class family. Her father was a municipal worker. Her mother stayed home to raise her and her brother. They went to the local public schools. They studied hard; both got into Princeton, took out huge student loans and got great educations. She went to Harvard Law school, where she met her husband. They were both taught to use their educations to better their communities so that's what they did. They went back to Chicago. Her husband became a civil rights lawyer; he drove single mothers to City Hall to help them get the services they needed. He told the truth; worked for what was right and managed to survive the political climate of Chicago--one of the most "inbred" political cities in the country.

Her points were simple; we are not that different from you. We just paid off our student loans a few years ago. We know what it feels like to continually have the bar raised just when you feel like it's within reach. We are not out of touch. Oh, and we've heard it all before. Everything that anybody says about her husband has, according to Michelle, already been said. You don't survive nine years in the Illinois State Senate without hearing that you're too black, not black enough, too young, too inexperienced, too scary because you're different or that you can't put together a campaign from the bottom up and win elections.

This election, according to Michelle Obama, is not about her, her husband or any of the other candidates. What it is really about is us and what we want. Universal health care. More money for public schools. Tax breaks. We can't have it all and when we decide what is important to each of us, we'll decide who is going to get us there.