“I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves and I watch my daughters – two handsome, intelligent young black women – playing with their dog on the White House lawn”, Obama said. “That is what Barack and I think about everyday as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of life in the spotlight”, Obama said, before hitting back at Trump for his past comments on Barack Obama’s citizenship, as well as his inflammatory rhetoric throughout the presidential campaign.
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For Michelle Obama, this election is about the kids.
Obama then championed Clinton as a “true public servant” who has dedicated her life to bettering America.
She also spoke movingly of how she and her husband, President Obama, had grown aware over eight years in the White House that they were role models to millions of American children. “This country is the greatest country on earth”.
Obama also offered a strong endorsement of Hillary Clinton, who will accept the Democratic nomination for president this week. You know, it’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought my husband should be president. She said Clinton would be an exemplary role model.
Michelle made a passionate plea for the former secretary of state in front of thousands of delegates and members of the Democratic Party at its national convention here and hailed the power that having a first female president would bring to the country.
In a stirring speech, the 52-year-old criticised Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump – though she did not mention him by name – and condemned the “hateful language we hear from public figures on TV”.
Rallying support for a woman she and her husband once counted as a political rival – and whom they are now counting on to carry his legacy forward – Obama said there was “only one person who I trust” with the responsibility of leading the country next year.
“That when someone is cruel, you don’t stoop to their level”, Obama said, working the already excited crowd into a froth.
Having been a resident of the White House and seen Obama running the country for seven and half years, Michelle said when she thinks of “the kind of president that I want for my girls and all children”, it’s someone who takes the job seriously – “someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and can not be boiled down to 140 characters”, in an allusion to Trump’s tweets.
“When you have the nuclear codes at your fingerprints. you can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out”, but must be measured and well informed, Obama said. She never takes the easy way out.
Afterwards, Michelle’s husband Barack Obama tweeted: “Incredible speech by an incredible woman”.
Certainly, the two imagined the job of first lady differently. “Couldn’t be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS”.
Recalling all the moments when Clinton was picked apart for “how she looked or how she talked or even how she laughed”, Mrs. Obama added that what she admired most about Clinton was that “she never buckles under pressure”.
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The first lady could turn into a powerful surrogate to boost the presumptive Democratic nominee, with her high favorability ratings. “We need to do what we did four years ago and eight years ago-so let’s get to work”. Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously.
