Michelle… most popular person on campaign trail

Reuters

US First Lady Michelle Obama kickstarted the Democrats 2012 convention on Tuesday, September 4, 2012.

Milwaukee - Once wary of life on the political scene, First Lady Michelle Obama is now embracing her role on the presidential campaign trail where she is more popular than her husband – or anyone else.

Michelle kick-started the Democrats’ 2012 convention on Tuesday with a prime-time address in Charlotte, North Carolina, that marked another step on her path from reluctant campaigner to political heavy hitter.

While first ladies since Nellie Taft 100 years ago have waded into the turbid waters of US presidential politics, Michelle reprised the modern role of providing a humanising antidote to the hyper-partisan caricatures of the day.

It was before a stadium packed with supporters in Denver, Colorado, four years ago that the Harvard and Princeton-trained lawyer made her political debut.

Then Michelle sought to show Americans that the Obamas were indeed like them.

She also began to tell her own story – that of a devoted mother and wife who made an improbable journey from the poor south side of Chicago to the storied corridors of power in the White House.

Michelle spoke touchingly of Obama playing basketball with her brother and of her now deceased father using two canes to get across the room to kiss her mother.

Diligent

On Tuesday she made the case that Obama was also a compassionate and diligent president.

“When people ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, I can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago.”

In recent months, as the first black first lady, with charm, hidden steel and growing political skill, she has injected some much-needed verve into her husband’s battered brand.

Michelle has headlined more than 70 fundraisers since April, and in Charlotte has been drafted to not only headline the first night of the convention, but to lead a slew of side events to woo African American, Hispanic, gay, military and women activists.

Since occupying the East Wing of the White House she has also built goodwill with healthy eating and fitness campaigns, and a drive to help families of military veterans.

“She’s the first fashionista, the mom-in-chief, the first gardener, the cool aunt – she’s Oprah with good arms,” said Robert Watson, an expert on first ladies from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

“I don’t know if it’s rebranding or we’re finally getting the real Michelle. Whatever it is, it’s very effective.”

Obama’s campaign is deploying her strategically to fire up Democratic supporters in swing states, win over independents and raise money.

Chanting supporters stood in a line for more than an hour in the heat at a high school in Milwaukee last week to see her.

“Barack has said this election will be even closer than the last one,” she told 2 000 party volunteers. “It could all come down to those last few thousand votes. That one new volunteer that you recruit – that could be the one that puts this election over the top.”

She yelled to be heard over their stomping feet.

After the rousing 30-minute speech she switched course as she held a private meeting with victims and family of those killed or injured in a shooting rampage earlier this month at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

It was a long way from Michelle’s first days as a campaigner in the 2008 election when she stirred controversy for saying that her husband’s success had made her proud of her country for the first time in her life.

Conservatives criticised her as insufficiently patriotic and the brief controversy led her to recede from the limelight a bit before she got back into the fray.

She eventually become an effective surrogate for her husband four years ago, drawing big, enthusiastic crowds as she helped him make history by becoming the first black US president. With unemployment at more than 8 percent, this election is tougher.

The first lady, 48, told her husband’s re-election campaign officials that she would nevertheless limit her campaigning to three days a week to be able to see her daughters, Sasha and Malia.

“My approach to campaigning is: ‘This is the time that I have to give to the campaign, and whatever you do with that time is up to you’,” she told reporters in February, describing what she told the campaign.

“But when it’s over, don’t even look at me,” she said. “Don’t look this direction. No calls, no anything.”

Despite her reluctance, polls show that two-thirds of Americans approve of her, much more than her husband’s approval rating of about 45 to 50 percent.

Mitt Romney also polls mostly in the same range as his opponent in November. The Republican’s wife, Ann, is also well liked but she is less well known than the first lady and gets lower ratings.

A poll in April gave her a 40 percent favourable rating. – Sapa-AFP, Reuters