Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Michele Obama's DNC Speech

During her speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama did not talk to the American people but with them. By recalling intimate moments with her husband and newborn child as well as stories told to her by people from around the nation, she created a sense of trust that most politicians would pay for and a level of humbleness that others could only dream of. What Michelle Obama did was develop an emotional and inclusive, yet concrete message through story telling. We as viewers suddenly found ourselves in an understanding relationship with a woman that most of us have never even met.

As our new found friend, what advice did Michelle offer to us? She told her audience, presumably working class families, to never let go of the American dream. After all, Michelle's own father never let her doubt that she was loved or that she could go to college. Her speech reminded us that this dream endures in both her and Barack's values, the future of her own two daughters, and American families from across the country. While she finds inspiration in the women who pioneered the 19th amendment as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Michelle encouraged her own audience to find the same in her husband, Barack. To have faith in him is to find inspiration, a dream, and change to make the country a better one.

Michelle Obama's speech did nothing to belittle the opposing party nor did it put her White House ready family on a platform. Instead, she spoke to the nation as an average American looking for a better future. She spoke soft enough to allow us to get to know her, but appeared assured enough to remind us of her confidence and readiness. While she was as elegant as a modern day Jacqueline Kennedy, she also tripped on her words and sounded like, well, you or me. Her speech told us that she is us, we are her, and together we make a nation ready to move on with the leadership of a man just like the rest of us - Barack Obama.

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