It's true. I could have done it, but I just left my brain at home. I had my Philadelphia Jewish Voice press pass, I brought my cheapo digital camera - no extra batteries of course (thank God for cell phone cameras), brought a pad and paper, I brought my (almost, but not quite) 10 year-old son Zachary with his Merion Elementary School press pass (I called school in the early afternoon and his gifted teacher whipped one up for him), but did I think to bring my laptop? Nooooo, of course not. Zachary was kind enough to give me a stiff whack to the head (on my request) when we arrived at Villanova University's Jake Nevin Fieldhouse and I saw a few college kids with and realized SHIT I COULD HAVE LIVE BLOGGED MICHELLE OBAMA! Argh.
Ok, so I messed up, and the batteries in my camera didn't last for even one picture, and I didn't even remember to take a picture of my own kid, but hey I got to listen to an outstanding speaker who gives her husband a legitimate run for his money for over an hour and boy was it ever a treat.
[UPDATED - picking up with the hard working public school teachers who made Michelle's successes possible...]
So here's the best I could do with the visual aids...
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Of course what really matters is what Michelle had to say, and it was really quite amazing. For over an hour, with nary a note, Michelle brought the crowd - which I guestimate in the 3000 - 3500 range - with her through a truly amazing journey.
So while it's a wee bit late to live blog, here's my best imitation of a not-so-live blog of what Michelle Obama had to say:
The journey started just over a year ago, as she recalled that truly frigid day on the steps of the IL capital when she figured no one was going to come to watch, after all, they'd really have to be crazy to stand out in that weather but, to her true shock and surprise, 16,000 showed up.
Michelle relayed the then common wisdom that this was an effort doomed to fail before it even started, that he could never overcome the enormous advantages of the then overwhelming front runner, could never raise the money to even begin to compete. And of course he proved them wrong by going to regular folks for their help and began building the small-donor juggernaut we see today.
So then, the CW became "money doesn't matter", it's years of network building and relationships, and he could never build an organization able to compete with that of the front-runner. What did Barak do? He went right back to those regular people and asked for their help and guess what, he build an unrivaled organization.
But of course, organization doesn't really matter, what matters is Iowa with the one-on-one, face-to-face campaigning and special requirements of the first in the nation caucus. CW: he can't possibly overcome the institutional support of the front-runner. Except he went out and met those people all over Iowa and when they got to know him, they handed him a big win.
Yes, well, it is only a caucus state after all, and what really matters after all, is the national polling numbers. So what did Barak do? He started chipping away at those national numbers and when he was expected to get savaged in New Hampshire he put on a run that almost won him the nation's first primary.
Next it was on to South Carolina where, yes he was expected to win, so that of course doesn't really count, never mind that he swept to a huge victory carrying all but 2 counties in the state garnering not just black votes but votes from every kind of voter across SC. A bit harder to spin that.
So, Michelle continues, you know how it goes, but we won in red states and blue states, big states and small states, states all across this country and they said that doesn't count, only the really big states count.
But here is the reality, people are engaged, people are excited. Since when do people sit around the dining room table talking about pledged delegates and super delegates - who knew what a delegate was in past elections? People want change - and here Michelle shifted gears to build and hammer home a theme I'd not heard before.
We still live in a country were people expect a bar to be set, a bar to be reached that when achieved means that you can count on being able to raise a family, to be able to get the health care you need and put up your feet and relax when it's time to retire. But the fact is that after struggling and scraping and working harder then they've ever had to work before, just as they are right at that bar and reach out to grab it, it gets moved out of reach. What you were told would be good enough isn't good enough. That bar is shifting and moving like crazy. Everyone is working harder and harder, but the bar keeps moving. It is this never ending struggle that is dividing and isolating people. No one has time to get to know their neighbor, we live in isolation, susceptible to divisiveness to the idea that government isn't going to change a thing for them. So people give up on it; they don't vote, why bother? it isn't going to change anything. They let others run the show and they become ever more susceptible to fear.
That fear creates a veil of impossibility. It generates talking about what can't be done, what can't be changed and that fear is what is being passed on to the next generation. They are being taught to be doubters, being told not to try, it won't work anyway. But that is not what she wants for her girls. She loves her kids, we all love our kids. We want the best for them, but as it looks now, we know we'll be handing over less than we had.
"I remember how it was growing up as a littler girl on the South side of Chicago" Michelle tells the crowd, child of working class parents, a blue collar father, a mom who could stay at home with her kids 'cause back then a single income was enough to raise a family of four and make it possible for your kids to do better than you did. Where your kids could go to a neighborhood public school and get a good education.
"Look at me for what public education can do!" says Michelle; a product of hard working parents and public school teachers.
[ok - my fingers are burnt - I need a break, so the not-so-live blog will continue in a bit...]
"My parents took pride" in what they were able to do, sending 2 kids to Princeton [feel free to fact check that for me]. Here's the beauty of America, according to Michelle Obama, most parents are just like her parents, wanting to do what they can for their kids so they can be successful, so they can have a better life. It isn't much they want, to work hard and by so doing be able to take care of their family. They want to know that if they get sick it isn't going to cost them their job, that things will be ok, that their kids can get an education, get a decent job an make a decent living. That they, and their kids can retire when the time comes with respect and dignity.
Unfortunately, we're living in a time where such things are getting further and further out of reach. Simple, solid jobs like the blue collar job her father had are going overseas while prices for gas, food, mortgages are going up and up. It's hard enough for families with two working parents, how do single mothers do it? They love their kids too! How do they do it? Working 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet; they're exhausted when they get home, they can't peel vegetables for their kids [leaving unsaid, that they have no choice but to stop at Micky-D's on the way home so the kids have something to eat, even if it is grease and empty calories]. They feel like they are failing. What is wrong with me that I can't reach that ever shifting bar?
Michelle segued back to education here [sorry, I think Zachary was asking me the opposite of optimism at the moment] laying into No Child Left Behind as strangling education, teachers having lost the ability to teach freely; we are testing our kids to death! "I wouldn't be here today" if it was like that when I was growing up. Getting to go to college today is a shifting, moving bar. Millions of kids today, just like her have done what they were expected to do; get good grades, apply to college, get accepted and find they can't afford to go and if they do go they're left buried in a pile of debt that keeps them from realizing their dreams. They can't take a job as a teacher, social worker... they can't take low paying jobs and give back to their communities, they have no choice but to go for corporate jobs to pay off all that debt.
"Barak and I know what it's like!" We had that pile of debt and didn't go for the big pay-day jobs. They went back to serve the community and instead of saving for college for our kids, we were paying off those loans. It's only those two best selling books Barak wrote that saved our bacon [oops, sorry, that's not what she said - that's what I was thinking] changed that for us.
Health care is the same way, even if you're lucky enough to have insurance; I've met couples, both working without insurance, paying for their medical bills with their credit cards wondering how they'll make it.
Our seniors used to be able to count on patients, what will we do when we retire. We need our grandparents healthy and able to be at home giving their wisdom to our kids, like my mom is doing right now with my girls, feeding them, giving them some candy, letting them bounce on the couch, giving them ice cream - I know that's what they're doing now instead of in bed... [major league chuckle from the crowd!]
This is what Barak is passionate about. But people say wait; what's the rush, you have time, you're young. WAIT FOR WHAT?? [crowd is on their feet screaming!] Here's what I see; no uptick in my old neighborhood, no one is doing better, they've seen no recovery. But it isn't a deficit of resources nor of policies or plans. We are a wealthy country, we have the resources. What we need is a President who understands. This is not rocket science [even if we have a rocket scientist for our newest Democratic Congressman from IL!]; we know what good public schools look like. We know what the class size should be, what we need to spend per pupil. We are suffering from a deficit of empathy, not resources.
We have lost the understanding that for democracy to work we need to appreciate one another. We need to be willing to sacrifice for each other. Fear stops this. Fear keeps us from the solution. The only ones making a sacrifice today are the troops and their families. They are the ones suffering. Bush says, don't worry, just go out and shop while our soldiers come home to no jobs, no support, no health care.
If I'm OK, there is no reason to worry about anyone else who isn't OK. For Barak,it is this situation that is not OK. We need more than this. We need to know that sacrifice is worth it and get back a sense of community.
Barak Obama is the only one in this race that gives me the feeling that he understands this. This is why he is running.
[ok, I'm just about out of gas, but bet your bippy, Michelle kept it going for another 25 - 30 minutes - I'll add more when I can, cause it's great - especially a few very subtle stiletto thrusts at a certain candidate]