When you walk through that door of opportunity, you don’t slam it shut behind you.
Michelle Obama’s speech last night was powerful and moving. She was, to quote Matt Yglesias, the iron fist in a velvet glove. She hit all the right notes in talking about military families, in talking about her father working to make sure that he always paid his kids’ tuition on time, in talking about how we have a responsibility to future generations to make sure that they have a chance to succeed should they want to. She called out Mitt Romney again and again, but did it with a smile on her face.
[read full post at ABLC]
Legalize
No – Your Move: MITT Romney.
Nobody gives a shit about Ann; she doesn’t matter.
Steve
I love it when Democrats hit these themes, like family, that conservatives believe they own but actually don’t.
jl
@Legalize: Agreed. And, I think the post is a little harsh on Ann Romney. Even GOP hacks admitted Ann’s big job was to convince the voters that Mitt was a normal adult human. You have to admit that is a tall order.
flukebucket
My wife does not give one damn about politics but she actually shed a few tears during that speech. I was amazed at the power of Michelle. As somebody else said here last night, how in the world did two of the world’s most wonderful public speakers wind up married to one another?
decitect
Mrs. Obama rocked the house. She preached in the way that reaches the audience; she didn’t dress-down the audience. She connected; she didn’t have to say “I love you women!” to convince anyone who watched that she cares. #Obamacares
matryoshka
No, no, no! CNN was telling me this morning that Michelle Obama was “competing” with Ann Romney and not even coming close to making the splash that Ann made. All the while the bottom of the screen said “Democrat Party Convention.”
Fortunately, I see with my own eyes and I’d say Michelle rocked the house. She’s gorgeous, highly intelligent, articulate, and sincere. Take that, Romneybots.
slag
I would say it was more: “Liberals (and everybody else), let’s move”. That woman really knows how to stay on message.
Jennifer
No, you have Rafalca kick it shut for you.
SatanicPanic
Damn, Michelle is so cool
shortstop
I kinda like the “FLOTUS like a butterfly, sting like a bee” analogy.
So my mom, who phonebanks other superannuated folk on behalf of Barack Obama and Bill Foster (when she cast off the GOP in the late 1990s, she never looked back), calls me up last night and says, “Ann Romney’s speech was a shallow, simpering speech a tittering little girl would make. Michelle Obama’s speech was passionate, personal and yet deeply perceptive about policy. It was the speech of a mature woman who understands how things work in this country and can actually relate other people’s experiences to her own.”
Ann Rynd
I love FLOTUS with everything thats in me.
But, why am I moved by her dad’s struggle with MS and not so much by Ann Romney’s? Is it because treatment now is more advanced? Or because Romney probably called in the best specialists and hired more helpers and could go to bed for a week or two when she needed to. Don’ t want to be cruel but…it’z easier to be sick if you’re rich
Ann Rynd
I love FLOTUS with everything thats in me.
But, why am I moved by her dad’s struggle with MS and not so much by Ann Romney’s? Is it because treatment now is more advanced? Or because Romney probably called in the best specialists and hired more helpers and could go to bed for a week or two when she needed to. Don’ t want to be cruel but…it’z easier to be sick if you’re rich
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Legalize: hear hear. She sliced him up with a stiletto so sharp and moves so elegant he doesn’t even know he’s bleeding yet.
@matryoshka: Time dot com has a cover image (I don’t think they’ll actually put it on dead tree) “Bill Clinton To the Rescue!”, because being only slightly ahead of Romney when you factor in Rasmussen and the RNC hiccup, Democrats are in disarray and Obama needs to be “rescued”.
Violet
@matryoshka: Whaaa? Really? That’s insane. Michelle’s speech has ruled social media. More tweets than Mitt Romney’s, let alone Ann Romney’s.
shortstop
@matryoshka:
Well, she was, in much the same way that Hillary Clinton competes with the female Republican city clerk of Fort Wayne, Debra Fischer competes with Jeane Dixon (is she still alive?), or Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce competes with me running to catch a bus.
Violet
@Ann Rynd: Ann Romney can take as many days off as she wants or needs to and her family will be able to eat and her sons will have clothes and be able to go to college. This has been the case her entire life. One can feel sympathy for her because she has had breast cancer and MS, and that’s a double whammy and a lot to deal with. But outside of the obvious personal physical and mental struggle, her illness didn’t affect her family’s financial health. Her family would not struggle with material things if she needed round the clock care for the rest of her life.
For MO’s dad, it was an entirely different story. He knew that and so he got up every day, put on his uniform and went to work.
No One of Consequence
@jim @ legalize
I think the term you are looking for is a razor artist. You might survive a knife fight, you might even survive a stabbing, but a razor artist will slice you to the bone, or open many veins and you won’t feel a thing as you slowly become room temperature…
– NOoC
shortstop
@No One of Consequence: NOoC, tell us about your interesting life. I’m horrified, yet fascinated…
slag
@shortstop:
Your mom should totally have Luke Russert’s job.
I am always struck by how MO talks about her struggles with the concept of BO running for President. Those are the struggles of someone who wasn’t born into her life but made it herself. She is what the preening Republicans are pretending to be.
matryoshka
@Violet: Swear to it. I was standing there with my coffee halfway to my mouth, experiencing their alternate universe. I even checked to make sure I wasn’t on FOX.
@shortstop: I should just shut up and let you do all the talking.
Villago Delenda Est
Compare and contrast Michelle Obama and Ann Romney.
There is no comparison. The contrast could not be sharper.
Working woman vs. entitled bint. Michelle wins, hands down.
PurpleGirl
@Ann Rynd: Well, treatment is more advanced but it is expensive. And the type of MS and the severity of your condition is so important. The thing is, with Ann Romney we’re told she struggles with it but we don’t hear or see stories about it. (I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt that it was the media that turned the dressage hobby/business into her horse riding as therapy.)
I know several people with MS or with relatives with MS. One friend’s mother married an Englishman and moved to England; they stay there because with the NHS, she has access to the treatment she needs. Another friend’s mother is 92 and has dealt with MS since her 40s. This friend’s brother developed a very severe case and unable to work and unable to afford all the care he needed, he died in his early 40s.
General Stuck
Best First Lady speech, ever.
Wicked smart and full of heart.
LanceThruster
Just read the text of Tammy Duckworth’s speech. Good stuff. Someone elsewhere said she did not pause for the applause lines and in that sense, seemed less than polished. I accept the criticism of the overall presentation if accurate, but am saddened that it is our human nature to focus so much on the trivial at the expense of what should count. I’ll see what I think after viewing it.
“Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.” ― Maggie Kuhn
rikyrah
thanks ABL
I love our FLOTUS. she utterly rocks. her speech last night was on spot. I said it in 2008; I never paid to see Barack Obama. I paid to see Michelle Obama 3 times during that campaign.
shortstop
@matryoshka: Never, tootsie! When’s lunch?
Culture of Truth
They were the right words, and well-delivered, to be sure, but it worked because it felt authentic. Genuine, and from her heart. What she and Barack, as she calls him, actually believe, and what drives them in public life.
Roger Moore
@PurpleGirl:
As I understand it, she started getting hippotherapy for her MS. That got her interested in horses in general, which started her on the path to dressage and Rafalca.
Violet
NYT article on Michelle’s dress. I thought it was gorgeous. Apparently everyone else did too. Love that it’s from an African-American designer and is somewhat moderately priced.
japa21
@LanceThruster: Actually, I think Tammy’s speech was better because she didn’t sound like some slick politician. She sounded like most people would in that type of a situation. And although she talked about her injuries, it wasn’t to elicit any sympathy for her situation, but rather to talk about how we are all in this together. She talked about her fellow soldiers who stayed with her instead of just focusing on their own safety. It was very powerful, because you could see she still felt the emotion of that event.
I will be proud come November when I cast my vote for both President Obama and her.
PurpleGirl
@Roger Moore: Right. While I didn’t hear that during the meme, I did know that horse riding was done as therapy with MS patients (and a number of other disabilities).
LanceThruster
@japa21:
Thank you for the additional details. I’ve seen her interviewed several times and just feel she’s an amazing leader, warrior, Democrat, woman, and human being.
Remarkably inspiring story all the way around.
Kane
Kind of difficult for Ann Romney to humanize her husband and intertwine their lives with his policies when they are both as secretive about their lives as he is with his policies.
Elizabelle
I’m remembering Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep” videos, where she urged grandkids to head south and talk to their grandparents about Obama 2008. Schlep organized by the Jewish Council for Education & Research (and is active anew in 2012).
I’m thinking that Michelle’s speech could be used in person-to-person outreach to reach out to “Values Voters”, especially Republican women and men who are more pragmatic than ideological. Actual Christians, not political ones.
Michelle’s points are authentic. A viewer might start watching out of curiosity, and stay for the message.
low-tech cyclist
That was one amazing speech. I was choked up for most of the time I was watching. Michelle Obama is really something special, isn’t she? Brains, heart, passion, and devastating good looks to boot.
And shortstop’s mom frickin’ nailed it with her comments.
And finally, anyone who thinks this Presidency or this party needs rescuing, by Bill Clinton or anyone else, evidently wasn’t watching last night. It’s as if this party has undergone a personality transplant. Where’s the Scared Rabbit Party I’ve grown all too used to? Suddenly they’ve stopped running from themselves, taken ownership of all the things, from Obamacare on down, that represent the Democratic Party’s best aspirations, and they took turns nailing Romney’s and the GOP’s collective asses to the wall.
Game on!
Linnaeus
Overall, an excellent speech. The delivery in particular was outstanding. There were a couple of lines that I thought could have been different, but that’s about it.
1badbaba3
@Violet: I remember when the word got out about Cindy McCain’s convention garb, plus how much the RNC splashed out to Eliza Doolittle Gov. Grifterella. The frakkin’ economy was going down the tubes and the Republicans decide that Falconcrest should be their theme. Not a bit out of touch there.
Btw given how she dresses herself of late I would say La Palin’s RNC handlers could not possibly spend enough to make her presentable. Those “shoes” she wore at the Steelman rally made her look like a hillbilly Frankenstein. Gag.
Spatula
I especially liked the part where Michelle praised Barack to the rafters for the many successful DOJ prosecutions of bankers and wall street succubi over the last four years.
The subsequent silence from the crowd was odd though…
WereBear
My twitter feed (devoted to the kitties, @WayofCats) has many Republican fans.
They are being extremely skeptical of the convention, accusing them of lying about how many filled the stadium, disparaging Michelle Obama, and generally imagining the Democratic side being as deceptive as their party actually is.
It baffles me terribly; these are lovely folks who love cats and have many rescues among them, they are moved to tears by kitten pictures. Yet they support a party who would grind up every shelter animal in the world to make five bucks.
If actual facts and reality means nothing to them; when they live in their own dream world of lies and happy (to them) fictions, I don’t know what more we can do except to keep Reality pressing upon them with as much force as we can muster.
Insomniac
@Spatula: This is kind of sad really. Your comments used to irritate, but now they’re just pathetic and sad. Can’t imagine the need to be this way. Hope things get better for you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@1badbaba3:
.
Hah! I can’t believe that’s the first time I’ve seen her compared to Eliza Doolittle
Oh christ, Howard Wolfson and Ed Rendell having a little PUMA circle jerk around how Obama hasn’t ‘sold’ Obamacare. Hey dickwads, he got it passed!
Yutsano
@Insomniac: Special Timmeh is losing his edge. But that’s the inevitable result when a schtick gets tiresome.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WereBear: Tom Junod describes an encounter with his relatives, and he could be a member of my family, unfortunately:
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/#ixzz25c9JURKm
Insomniac
@Yutsano: You’re right, Yutsano. But in a weird way I feel a little sorry for him that he feels he needs to do this sort of thing and be this way.
iLarynx
A better transcript link to Michelle’s speech than ABC:
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamas-convention-speech
Some Loser
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Is that how they see us then?
iLarynx
@Jennifer:
Good one!
How about “When you walk through that door of opportunity, you don’t slam it shut behind you, you have your six-figure dressage pony prance backwards and kick it shut.”
This is fun, and two more days to go!
catclub
@Insomniac: Funny about that.
I am disappointed there were no prosecutions, also.
But the election is about a choice, and using this issue makes absolutely no sense. Would Mitt Romney somehow fix the DOJ and SEC and send them after the banksters? Even to ask the question is ludicrous.
Emma
@Spatula: You know, you’re the kind of jerk who goes to a wedding and the first thing out of your mouth is “too bad the bride has such a checkered past.” And then when he’s told the bride was a nun until three years ago, sighs and says “that’s why the dress looks so ugly.”
cckids
@low-tech cyclist:
No Sh*t! It was amazing to watch, wasn’t it? After Michelle’s speech, I realized that in one night, the Democrats had 3 speeches (hers, Castro’s and Patrick’s) that were better than ANYTHING the R’s put on. And O’Malley’s was quite good, too, after a slow start. All in one night. And those were just the ones I saw live. Add in Tammy Duckworth, Lily Ledbetter, Strickland? Amazing night.
The topper is that, unlike the R’s, most of those speeches will appeal to everyone but the crazed 27%-ers. They were clarion calls for the Democrats without the us-vs-them hatefulness that was the hallmark of so much of the Republican convention.
It is as if someone took to heart one of Desmond Tutu’s sayings: “Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument!”
The Moar You Know
@Insomniac: I think he got broken the last time he was here when folks started bringing up his last nym’s pro-Sandusky/pro-pedophilia postings. He freaked out, left for several weeks. Came back with yet another nym but he hasn’t been the same. Lost his edge.
I feel bad for him, if you read the post where he confesses to wanting to have been raped by his coaches you’re left with a sick feeling in your stomach because he really means it, and anyone who can say that and mean it is a profoundly damaged person.
scav
@Emma: Moreover, he preens himself on delivering such devastating pick-up lines in the next breath.
Insomniac
@catclub: Exactly. That’s the thing though. In general, I don’t believe most people who talk about persecutions in this context do so because they necessarily think the other team would do better. For some it’s a way of expressing their disappointment with our guys and with the economy-crashers getting away with it and hurting so many; for others it’s just a way to be negative and try to bring the conversation down to nastiness and divisiveness and maybe even try to sow some doubt.
Rex Everything
Believe it or not Yggy didn’t coin that phrase.
meander
“When you walk through that door of opportunity, you don’t slam it shut behind you.”
What a great line, an excellent response to the IGMFU crowd that populates so much of the center and right.
Frankensteinbeck
@Insomniac:
There’s a real streak of vengefulness in the More-Progressive-Than-Thou wing. You can fix a problem, even fix it so it won’t happen again, but if you don’t punish the people who caused it they don’t care. They’re pretty open about that. In this case they’re barking at the moon. The shit that wrecked the economy was legal. Horribly immoral, but legal. The collusion, the deceptions, the rigging the system to they know it will fail and will profit when it does – all legal. Hell, the robosigning crap is only illegal in a ‘we’re not sure who owns the mortage’ way, not in a criminal prosecution way. Thirty years of deregulation left the banks legally free and clear to fuck the economy any old way they want.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ah yes. Possessed of magical powers that can peer into the soul: “You can just tell”.
They really are just medievalists in disguise, aren’t they?
Spatula
@Insomniac:
lol
Spatula
@Insomniac:
Awww…Insomniac, your fake concern is fakely noted.
Fake thank you!
Spatula
@The Moar You Know:
Awww…Moar, your fake concern and inaccurate representation of my visits here are likewise duly noted, as are your ravingly dishonest summations of my position on the Sandusky matter. But that’s old behavior for you sociopaths.
Fake thank you.
Spatula
@Insomniac:
Or, you know…it’s a way of keeping things real, of remembering that no matter how great Michelle’s speech was, or how awesome her biceps, there is very good reason to be wary of any and all politicians, as we were advised to be by the founders of this country.
I love repeating this: I’ll be voting for BO here in Massachusetts. It’s just that I will do with my eyes open and while holding my nose.
It’s funny and disturbing and revealing that you folks demand not only a vote but complete, blind fealty to the person receiving it.
Insomniac
@Spatula: Nothing fake about it, but carry on and good luck to you.
Spatula
@Frankensteinbeck:
Says you. A lot of other smart people say otherwise. I’ll go with them.
Spatula
@Insomniac:
You too! Try to develop your inherent power of independent thought and you’ll be doing great!
LanceThruster
@WereBear:
Well, Hitler liked dogs. They have compassion for kittahs with the cutes, but for actual people in need of the same love and care…not so much (specially if they’re “of color”).
The Moar You Know
@Spatula: It’s too early in our big dance for me to hang you with your own words. I’ll give you a few more weeks. You’ll get more confident, start posting on active threads instead of the rump ends of those falling off the front page, folks will figure out who you are again…
And then I will lower the boom on you at a time of my own choosing. Just like last time.
Insomniac
@Spatula: OK, I see what you’re saying there, but you are assuming that others aren’t “keeping things real”. If that’s your intent, then your delivery, unfortunately, does not convey that. We can appreciate Michelle Obama’s speech and still maintain skepticism about our politicians. One thing does not preclude the other.
However you vote is up to you, just as long as you do vote.
I have demanded no such thing. Please be more careful and honest with the things you say.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Some Loser: Yes.
SATSQ, etc.
Insomniac
@Spatula: Really? Was that necessary? You truly can’t help yourself can you. Defensive mechanism, maybe?
Maude
@Frankensteinbeck:
This.
hep kitty
FLOTUS is beautiful, mesmerizing and yet completely natural and believable. I was thinking during Ann’s speech about Michelle’s upcoming speech and how she was going to blow Ann out of the water into the outer limits. Naturally, FLOTUS did not disappoint.
hep kitty
@Spatula: Eyes open and “keeping it real” since 2001
Spatula
@The Moar You Know:
lol
Reading comprehension was never your strong suit, Moarie.
BTW…most of the old timers here have known almost from the time I came back after Doug Tender Flower J’s last banning, that I am exactly who I am.
You’re the one who seems to think it’s news.
BTW…as always, I stand by everything I wrote re Sandusky. Including the parts where I looked forward to his trial and punishment if in fact he did as alleged. Which apparently he did. Pretty controversial, I know.
And I had a crush on one of my eighth grade bb coaches and fantasized sex with him at the time; pretty shocking I know. And I wrote about it honestly right here, so that all you compassionate people who understand and care all about child sexual abuse might consider it for what it is and was. Your caring reaction is very moving. It’s too bad you weren’t around to attempt to shame all the other young gay boys who have imagined having sex with older heroes. It would have been good for them, I’m sure.
Have a good day. I can’t wait until you lower the boom and reveal all my dark secrets to which you alone are privy.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s kind of interesting, because my Fox-watching mother has actually softened in her opinion of the Obamas over the past four years. She still has that knee-jerk “Those People shouldn’t be representing our country” reflex, but she will now at least acknowledge that they are a lovely couple and Mrs. Obama seems like a nice woman.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne:
I hope her Fox-tard friends don’t get a hold of her or they’ll grill her on why does she hate her country.
Original Lee
@shortstop: Your mom rocks.
D. Mason
She really is the most vibrant first lady of my lifetime. Laura Bush was a fine cheerleader for her husband and Hillary Clinton was fearsome and effective but neither quite the Presidential wife that Mrs. Obama is. Before that Barbara Bush was frightening compared to Nancy Reagan who would be the closest competitor to Michelle Obama in my memory.
Shes obviously very poised and feminine while being commanding in a room full of powerful people. That’s a fine line which she walks with grace.
Lojasmo
@Ann Rynd:
MIchelle’s dad worked in a pump house with a walker with MS. Anne bought a fucking dressage gorse and wrote off an annual household income for it.
There is no comparison.
Lojasmo
@Spatula:
Just because you had the hots for your coach, it does not follow that those raped boys did, which is what you posited.
You are one sick dude.
jolanta lindner
Ann Romney ignorant women