Michelle Obama's Speech

I thought Michelle Obama did an okay job with her opening night speech at the Democratic Convention. She did a lot toward at least trying to appease her critics by sounding patriotic and moderate. This is contrast to many of her stump speeches during the primaries where she sounded angry and not particularly proud of her country. There were three things that she said in her speech though that made me cock my head and ask "what?". First, she mentioned that her husband wanted "to end the war in Iraq responsibly". Oh yeah? Her husband wanted to pull out all our troops during a time when Iraq was in chaos and we were "losing" the war. It would have been the most irresponsible thing we could have possibly done. Fortunately better judgement was in play and the surge was implemented. The second thing she said, in reference to her trying to give back to this country, was "that is why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service". Sounds like a big sacrifice, doesn't it. What she didn't mention was that her public service job now pays her over $300,000 a year. That's a job change that we can believe in. Finally one of Michelle's biggest crowd pleasing lines was "that is why I love this country". For most people in her position, that line would not have been necessary. Because of her previous quotes however, this became a line that people were hoping to hear her say. The question now is whether that was enough.

Added thought on the convention: Barrack Obama has built his campaign on the concept of change. He has blasted John McCain for being in Washington too long . . it's time to make a change. Of course this doesn't seem to carry over to the old timers in the Democratic party. There on opening night at the convention were Senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden. Between the two of them they represent about 80 years in Washington. And yet you don't hear Obama saying they have been in Washington too long . . it's time for a change. Instead you hear that they are "of the people", that Joe Biden is a "working class kind of person", born in Scranton, PA. Thirty five years in Washington, most as a U.S. Senator, and he is "working class"? And he hasn't lived in Scranton for probably 50 + years. I've heard of political spin, but boy, are they ever stretching.