Michelle Obama Visits Cleveland

Friday, February 22, 2008
Topics: Politics
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Barack Obama received a nod from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson yesterday. The endorsement was the prelude to a rousing and spirited address from Obama's wife, Michelle, at a Cleveland State University rally. ideastream®'s Tasha Flournoy has this story.

Michelle Obama has lived through numerous attack campaigns against her husband.  She said when Barack ran for the U.S. Senate, naysayers deemed him too young. When he opposed the war in Iraq and said it was too costly, he took hits from Republicans and Democrats alike. The woman who could become this nation’s first lady said Barack is unfazed by such assaults and so is she.

Michelle Obama: The one thing we’ve learned is that when power is confronted with real change, they will say anything to stop it. 

Nearly a thousand students, teachers, and staunch Obama supporters packed an auditorium at Cleveland State University to hear Michelle speak. That’s what brought Cleveland Metro Schools teacher Dawn DuBose to the event. A Barack supporter since his public announcement a year ago, DuBose says Michelle’s oration brought a freshness, a perspective that hopeful people need to hear.

Dawn DuBose: I connected with her on so many different levels. I think that is why he reaches out to grassroots and real people because somewhere in that speech she touched everybody in this room.

Even if Michelle Obama didn’t touch every person in the room, she surely had their rapped attention. She talked a lot about personal histories, upbringings, and careers of the couple.  And, she took great care in highlighting Baracks’s unconventional experience: He was a black child raised by a single white mother who took him to live abroad. He graduated from Harvard Law School and became a community organizer and a civil rights attorney when he could have opted to make millions on Wall Street. 

That is what captivated CSU business student Dante Peoples.

Dante Peoples: It really illuminated a lot of the stuff that you didn’t know about. As far as him going to Harvard and all that. Everything that he could have did… but he made the choices to take this route.

And, toward the end of the nearly hour long address, Michelle downplayed the skepticism of her husband’s abilities and the critics of his message of hope. Using a bit of humor, she challenged the crowd to ask themselves if they were ready for change, AND to let go of unknown fears.

Michelle Obama: The question is what are we willing to do for that change. Because change means taking the plastic off the furniture and letting it breathe. Change means letting your fears go.

At that point she had much of the audience in the palm of her hand. She then called upon THEM to unite across color lines, to ignore cynicism, and to get involved in the political process.

Michelle Obama: As Barack says hope is not naive. It’s not passive. Hope is all about action.

After the rally, schoolteacher Dawn DuBose said she liked the Obamas even more and found in Michelle’s words a message to share with her students..some of whom are juggling parenthood and a desire for an education. 

Do you ever tire of the message of hope? Dawn DuBose: Never. My life is based on hope.

Come March 4th, Obama campaigners are hoping voters don’t tire of the message either. Senator Obama himself will make campaign stops in Cleveland and Akron on Saturday.

Tasha Flournoy, 90.3.

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