Eloquent in her own right and every bit as intelligent as her husband, Michelle Obama impressed me once again with her convention speech last week. I had heard this speech before in a folksier, more free-flowing format. This time the speech was more pointed, focused, refined. But this time was for an audience of millions. When I heard it last, it was for an audience of about forty...yes, forty.
I was fortunate to meet Michelle Obama in late 2007 before the Iowa caucuses. she spoke to a small gathering in my hometown high school library where I once attended classes and now my oldest son does. My husband and I planned to go listen to Michelle speak while leavign our 10 and 7 year old sons at home with our teenagers. Our seven year old, however, had other ideas...he wanted to come, too!
Somsehow, we wound up in the front row, dead center in front of the podium, not six or seven feet away from Michelle. She spoke of her upbringing, her parents, meeting Barack, balancing work and family, raising children, nad the need for us all to feel that connection with one another that seems to have all but disappeared in this country. I was enthralled.
My seven year old? Not so much! He squirmed, he leaned on me, he whispered to me. And as Michelle talked, her eyes kept returning over and over to my son. But she showed no irritation, never missed a beat, even smiled at him and at me. With those glances and those smiles, she told me she is a mom first and foremost, that she loved me and my son because we were just like her and her children.
After several glances and several smiles in our direction, my husband leaned over and whispered to me, "When she is done speaking, we are in for a high-visibility moment."
Sure enough, at the end of her speech, Michelle started making her way down the line of people, shaking hands and making conversation. But when she got to my husband, she grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "You will have to wait a moment." Then she crouched down in front of my son, took him by the hands, looked him in the eyes and told him what a patient boy he had been and that he was so good. She asked him how old he was and how did he like school. She told him she had a little girl just his age. Then she said goodbye to him, greeted my husband and me, and moved on down the line.
I fell in love with her at that moment. Not only did she treat every adult in that person as a worthy being, but she treated my son with love and respect.
I don't know that my son understood that he had just met possibly the next First Lady. But he was struck by her kindness. Later he asked me, "When can we have that nice lady's little girl over to play?" What's not to love about Michelle Obama?
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
- Moshe Dayan
This country is like a ship that has been battered and tossed by a series of storms. She is now far off course and, being captained by a leader as lost as the ship herself, is beginning to flounder...economically, militarily, and humanitarily.
Now, we as Americans, want to believe we have found someone to steer us not just back on course, but on a course better than we've ever charted before. By the millions, we are putting our trust in the leadership of Barack Obama.
I wonder, what are we really asking of him? What will success do to him? I don't fret that success will change his values, make him think he is entitled or better than his fellow Americans. No, I fear that we will suck away every drop of his energy with our own hopes, dreams, and neediness.
Watching him interact with the public, he knows what this job requires of him...is readily investing his intellect and compassion in the future of this country and the future of its citizens. Already he is giving everything that he has. But as I gaze at photo essays of him writing a speech, silently contemplating before taking the stage, eyes closed on the campaign bus or watching out the window of is campaign plane...he is always thinking...but thinking what? Sometimes he looks calm, sometimes lonely, sometimes it seems he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Already he has aged in just these quick four years since the last convention. Lies about him and his family rocket around the world via the internet; many trivialize his greatest assets of intellect and eloquence as if these were marks of incompetence; some threaten his very life.
Why would anybody want to go through this ugly process to gain a job that requires so much? that ages a person fourteen years in the span of four? And is it even fair of me to ask for such a sacrifice from this honest person who lives the Golden Rule, always asking himself, "How would that make me feel?" before acting or reacting to baseless and petty attacks from the right.
Barack Obama answers the first question for me with every speech and townhall meeting...to restore my American dreams, to ensure justice and equality and dignity for all, to make a better way for my children.
As for the second question, all I can say is I am greedy and I am needy. I want his leadership, his ideas, his energy. I want the future that he has outlined in speeches and detailed in his policy papers. I want, I want, I want.
When he takes the Oath of Office, I will cry tears of joy for the future of this country. As I watch him age throughout his Presidency, I will cry tears of worry for his health. And as this country strengthens and recharts its course under his leadership, I will thank God for his willing sacrifice of self.
All signs point toward the growing desperation of the Republican Party. The news over that past week has been rife with over-the-top rants from John McCain and whining from his cohorts over the amount of press Senator Obama's trip to the Middle East has received. Overall, McCain's gaffe-filled week matched up with Obama's presidential strolls, speeches, and meetings with foreign leaders speaks to the steep hill that the Republicans must climb heading into November.
USA Today reported yesterday (Monday, July 21, 2008) that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has raised $41.2 million so far this year and have $54.7 million cash on hand as of June 30. The National Republican Congressional Committee, in contrast, have raised $30.8 million so far this year and had only $8.5 million cash on hand as of June 30.
And that is on the national level.
Looking at the state and local levels, the picture doesn't get any better for the Republicans. Several states are reporting record fundraising and voter registrations by the Democrats while Republicans lag behind. For example, The Des Moines Register on Monday, July 21,2008, reported that the Republican Party of Iowa raised $142,036 from May 15 to July 14, while the Iowa Democratic Party raised $616,938. The Republicans had $138,961 in the bank, while Democrats had $568,875.
Add to that, registered Democrats in Iowa now outnumber Republicans by more than 90,000, the biggest GOP deficit in almost 20 years. If these Democratic voters turn out in November, it indicates that Iowa will turn blue for Obama and turn several state and local positions over to Democrats.
With numbers like this and no cohesive campaign strategy, it is no wonder we are seeing desperate behavior from McCain. He just isn't "getting it up" for his party.
In the meantime, Obama is bringing voters into and over to the Democratic party and instigating a positive ripple effect for other Democratic candidates around the nation.
Not even Viagra can help McCain's campaign right now!
Re-reading Senator Obama's NAACP address got me thinking. I had lost sight of how young icons such as Martin Luther King Jr. were when they began to make their mark on the country through civil rights activism. Now, as I look at my children, ages 17, 15, 10 and 7, I am challenged as a parent...to ensure that I am exposing them to the right things, acting as the best role model that I can be, providing them with opportunities to learn and grow into individuals who think beyond themselves.
It can be overwhelming. But yet it is so straighforward.
To link one's self to the community at large, through volunteerism for example, takes time... a commodity of which I have so little. But I can no longer say, "That is not my child." For my child is linked to other children through friendships, clubs, sports. If I do not volunteer, it is both my child and your child that is shortchanged.
To feed and clothe the needy in my community, takes money...a commodity that I struggle to manage day to day and bill to bill. But I, at least, have some money to manage. There are so many who have none and each day is a desperate struggle to make it from morning until night. So I can no longer say, "It is not my problem." Because when these families struggle, my community struggles. And I have to answer my children's questions: Why didn't my friend and classmate have dinner tonight like I did?
To smile at those who disagree with me, whether on political views, social views, economics, whatever, and strive to understand their perspective takes patience...a commodity and virtue that I struggle and pray for on a daily basis. But this diversity is what makes our country great; an opportunity to view situations, struggles, and challenges from many viewpoints. And now we have the opportunity to elect a leader that shows the ability to capitalize on those multiple viewpoints and develop well-rounded solutions that will lead us to better tomorrows.
This is why I support Barack Obama. We need that connection to something bigger than we are.
So, is it just me? I am finding myself, on a daily basis, acting in a kinder and gentler way. This started one day as I was wearing my Obama t-shirt and I thought, "I am a representative of this campaign." I now carry that thought forward with me, whether I am dressed as a walking billboard or not, talking to a supporter or not. Frankly, it's a good feeling!
