Michelle Obama's negatives in opinion polls are the worst ever registered for a
candidate's wife, deep enough, perhaps, to turn the election against Barack.
Presumably that is why the Democratic Party wheeled out a chipper, perky, sunny
and smiling African-American female who claimed to be Michelle Obama in the
keynote slot of its national convention Monday night. This alleged Michelle
Obama bore a striking physical resemblance to the candidate's wife observed
during the campaign, but the differences in attitude and rhetoric were extreme
enough to warrant verification.
Mrs Obama's appearance was the star event on an otherwise lackluster first
evening. She was introduced by her brother, basketball coach Craig Robinson,
who mentioned that as a child
she had memorized every episode of the popular television comedy, The Brady
Bunch. That was perhaps the most informative political introduction in
the history of American politics, and a moment of magical realism. For a
moment, the incautious listener might have felt transported back into the
situation-comedy world of 1950s American television, into The Obama Bunch
.
The lady who has often protested against America's unfairness protested much
too little. Gone was the woman who told a television audience last February 18,
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country and
not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry
for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that
direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."
Never before has a candidate's wife delivered a major address to a national
convention of either party. The break in precedent stems evidently from the
urgent need to remake the image built up by sections of the media of
Michelle Obama as a rancorous and resentful woman. But it also may reflect the
extraordinary degree of her influence in her husband's campaign. She is
reported to have ruled out Senator Hillary Clinton as a vice presidential
candidate, although polls showed that Clinton would strengthen the ticket more
than any other choice.
Women wept in the Colorado Convention Center as Michelle spoke not of
"frustration and disappointment", but of how she embodied the success of the
American dream. Thanks to her parents "faith and hard work", both she and her
brother Craig "were able to go on to college. So I know firsthand from their
lives and mine that the American dream endures".
She spoke of "knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard
won by those who came before me. That is why I love this country. And Barack
and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what
you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're
going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't
know them and even if you don't agree with them. And Barack and I set out to
build lives guided by these values and pass them on to the next generation,
because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the
only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and
your willingness to work for them."
Watch for a big bounce in Michelle's numbers, which until now represented a
vulnerability to Obama's campaign. No candidate's spouse ever has drawn an
"unfavorable" opinion by 30% of the voters, not even Hillary Clinton after her
suspicious commodity trading profits were reported in the summer of 1992.
Teresa Heinz Kerry's haughtiness (for example, her comment that the former
schoolteacher and librarian Laura Bush never had held down a real job) helped
sink John Kerry's campaign in 2004.
%
Favourable
Unfavourable
No Opinion
Michelle Obama 8/08
51
30
19
Cindy McCain
8/08
47
20
33
Teresa Heinz Kerry 7/04
27
26
47
Laura Bush
8/04
66
15
19
Laura Bush
6/00
35
7
57
Tipper Gore
6/00
60
17
23
Elizabeth Dole
9/96
51
16
33
Hillary Clinton
8/92
44
28
28
‘00 polls by Gallup. Source: ABC
News [1]
Giving Michelle the keynote address at the convention is consistent with the
Obama campaign's overall defensive strategy. The choice of Democratic Senator
Joseph Biden of Delaware as running mate seemed odd given Biden's poor
performance during the Democratic primaries, but it provides a response of
sorts to the perception that Barack Obama has insufficient experience in
foreign policy. Michelle Obama carries baggage that might weigh down the
campaign, and an unprecedented role at the convention appears intended to
rehabilitate her image.
Although the party delegates received her rapturously, this level of visibility
for the candidate's wife has its risks, for it allows journalists to put
difficult questions to her. Her Princeton undergraduate thesis, for example,
expresses open sympathy for the black radicalism of Stokely Carmichael, as well
as a dour pessimism regarding the ability of black Princeton students to
integrate into the American dream (see
Sing, O Muse, the wrath of Michelle Asia Times Online, March 4, 2008) .
Although Michelle Obama can exult in the American dream (her hospital
administrator job pays mid-six-figures), she has urged working-class audiences
not to do precisely what she did, telling an Ohio group, "We left corporate
America, which is a lot of what we're asking young people to do. Don't go into
corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social
workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we're encouraging
our young people to do that."
The promotional video introducing her speech to the convention made a great
deal of the fact that Michelle left a corporate law firm to tutor disadvantaged
children, but did not mention her re-entry into the corporate world. Her role
at the convention, again, leaves her open to pointed questioning about the
discrepancy between her rhetoric and her own career choices.
Whether the Michelle Obama we saw on Monday night has the sangfroid to stand up
to the inevitable hazing by the press corps remains to be seen. What is clear
is that the Obama campaign is playing defense, a stance that has helped the
candidate in the polls to date.
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