First Lady Michelle Obama. Photo credit: Lawrence Jackson, official White House photo
The background
The reviews are in for Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention – and it seems the First Lady was a hit. With a host of personal stories and vignettes, Obama delivered a first-night performance widely considered a win for the Democrats. But how much of an effect can the First Lady’s tales of her early life with the US president have on the 2012 election?
A near-perfect performance
The content and delivery of the First Lady’s speech was triumphant, wrote Howard Kurtz at The Daily Beast: “It was well crafted, nearly perfect, and perhaps reminded people disappointed in this presidency what they believed in back in 2008.” As Kurtz pointed out, Michelle Obama faced a very different task from 2008, when she had to “vouch” for her husband; this time around, she had to talk about his values. And she succeeded: “Michelle Obama roused the Democratic convention on Tuesday night with a soft-spoken address that tied her modest upbringing and that of her husband to the values that have guided him as president,” wrote Kurtz.
“When it comes to rebuilding our economy, Barack is thinking about folks like my dad and like his grandmother.He’s thinking about the pride that comes from a hard day’s work,” said Michelle Obama in her speech to the Democratic National Convention.
Political linked to the personal
The strength of Obama’s speech was that she linked the political to the personal, wrote E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post: “A speech that was thoroughly apolitical on the surface carried multiple political messages, linking a very traditional message about parenting with a call for social justice.”
Nice speech, but does it really matter?
Linking Michelle Obama’s DNC speech to Ann Romney’s performance at the RNC, Andrew Rosenthal questioned how important the candidates’ wives words really are in The New York Times. “Does Mr. Obama’s familiarity with student loans mean he’s a better president than the tuna-fish-consuming Mr. Romney could be? Is a woman in that situation really going to get up and announce that she doesn’t love her husband and he can’t be trusted?” asked Rosenthal.
Emotion over political realities
The DNC has proved an emotional affair thus far, said Tim Stanley in The Telegraph, as exemplified by Michelle Obama’s performance: “It was a gracious, warm speech delivered towards the end with moist eyes.” But is all this emoting losing sight of the political realities? “Unemployment is at 8.3 percent and the debt just peaked $16 trillion. There is a need in American discourse for reason and a quiet conversation about priorities,” Stanley wrote.
Watch Michelle Obama’s full speech to the Democratic National Convention below.
