Black Caucus Stomps, Cheers for Michelle Obama Speech

Michelle Obama spoke to the Black Caucus of the Democratic Party in the Denver Convention Center.
Black Caucus Stomps, Cheers for  Michelle Obama Speech
Mary Silver
8/27/2008
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/obm82570568.jpg" alt="Michelle Obama (R), wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama,, and Jill Biden (L) wife of Barack Obama's running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), and Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter (C) help kick off the 2008 Democratic Nationa (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" title="Michelle Obama (R), wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama,, and Jill Biden (L) wife of Barack Obama's running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), and Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter (C) help kick off the 2008 Democratic Nationa (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1833907"/></a>
Michelle Obama (R), wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama,, and Jill Biden (L) wife of Barack Obama's running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), and Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter (C) help kick off the 2008 Democratic Nationa (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVERAudience members clapped, stamped and chanted Obama! Obama! Obama! hoping Michelle Obama would return for an encore.  She spoke to the Black Caucus of the Democratic Party in the Denver Convention Center on August 27.  She spoke, of course, of hope.  She said a light bulb went off years ago when she heard Barack Obama speak in a church basement in Chicago to a group of poor people who had every right and reason to be cynical, but who wanted to take control of their lives.

“We’ve all heard the messages in our head, this is as good as it gets,”  said Mrs. Obama.

“But we know what the world could look like.  We know what good education looks like, what good health care feels like. We know what it is to have a job that pays enough money to live on.” 

“Barack has been working for the world as it should be his whole life.”  She said he was running for President, not out of ego, but out of a father’s wish to make the world better for his children.  He could have become a corporate lawyer but chose to begin his career as a civil rights lawyer.”

She painted a picture of excellent public education so compelling that the audience interrupted her with applause.  Good libraries, music, arts, playgrounds, languages, should be part of every school, not special or extra, or considered frills. 

We all know some students only show up at school  because they love a sport, or they have an art talent and want to go to art class.  Every school should have those lures so that the talents and abilities of students have a chance to develop, according to Mrs. Obama.  Students who finish school with good grades should never be barred from college by lack of money.

She said she knew people who would not go to the emergency room when they needed stitches because they could not afford it.  She knew people not getting the shots they needed, mammograms, pap smears.  People get sick and die of preventable diseases when they don’t have access to preventative care. 

She called for ending the war in Iraq responsibly, then not letting veterans come back to find foreclosure on their homes.

“You know too many people are going to sit this out.  We don’t have time to get this wrong.  If we were in a better place as a nation we could play that game... Every year we dawdle ...we take away from our children.”  She asked every person there to call all their friends and ask them to vote for her husband, to find uninvolved young people and register them to vote. 

The theme of the caucus was to train leaders to go into the community to register voters and implement the fifty state strategy.  After Mrs. Obama spoke, a panel discussion opened to teach people concrete ways to elect Senator Obama president.  Throngs left the auditorium after giving thunderous applause for Mrs. Obama.  

A panel member called to those remaining, “Faith without what is what?” “Faith without works is dead!”  they responded.

Mary Silver writes columns, grows herbs, hikes, and admires the sky. She likes critters, and thinks the best part of being a journalist is learning new stuff all the time. She has a Masters from Emory University, serves on the board of the Georgia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and belongs to the Association of Health Care Journalists.
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