Michelle Obama: We need inspiration

Judith Davidoff  —  2/19/2008 10:36 am

In seeking voters for her husband in today's presidential primary, Michelle Obama spoke with feeling of the millions for whom the American Dream has been elusive.

"There's a bar that's shifting and moving," Obama told a crowd of about 800 at the Overture Center's Capitol Theater Monday afternoon. "Most Americans can't catch the bar."

And when people can't catch the bar, Obama said, they get tired, cynical and fearful, and they pass those frustrations on to the next generation.

"I'm here because I don't want that for my girls," said Obama, who has two young daughters with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. "We should be in a position in 2008 where our children ... should be able to imagine any kind of future for themselves ... and know they have the resources of an entire country behind them. That's what I want for my kids. We're not there yet."

Obama, who is 44, said things were different when she grew up. She spoke of her father, a city worker, who was able to raise a family of four on a "single city salary."

"My mother stayed at home because you could back then," added Obama.

She said her father was a hard worker who never complained. "Most folks are like my dad. They don't want much." What they do want, she said, is to know that if they work hard they will have something to show for it, that they won't go bankrupt if they get sick and that "after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice they can retire with some respect and dignity."

But, she said, most Americans are not earning enough to keep up, and they feel like they're failing.

'Strangling' schools

During Monday's speech, Michelle Obama criticized the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" program, which she said is "strangling the life out of most schools."

"If my future were determined by my performance on a standardized test I wouldn't be here," she said. "I guarantee that."

Obama praised the public school education she and her brother received while growing up in Chicago.

"I do want people to know that when they look at me they don't see the next first lady. They see what an investment in public education can look like."

Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

She talked about the student loan debt that she and her husband, who is also a Harvard Law graduate, amassed before being able to pay them off with the proceeds of his two bestselling books.

"We're just three years outside of paying off our student loans," she said. "Can you imagine a president of the United States that has just paid off his student loans?" she asked to laughter.

After Obama's talk, Cecilia Schiek said she was particularly pleased that Obama "touched the subjects that are particularly pertinent to the middle class."

Schiek, an educational assistant at Lindbergh Elementary School, said she tries to instill the type of hope in her students that Obama is talking about.

"When teaching them I say 'If you learn how to read you can do anything," Schiek said, adding that it is important for kids to have that kind of hope offered to them. "I didn't have that in my life and I'd love to see that for every kid."

Obama acknowledged that her speech was short on such specifics as environmental and health care policy, but said such details, while important, are secondary to leadership.

"Barack knows that at some level there's a hole in our souls and we need some inspiration," she said. "That's why I'm here. Because I know Barack is different."

jdavidoff@madison.com

Judith Davidoff  —  2/19/2008 10:36 am