In Virginia:

by Jose Sueiro
For the first time during this election cycle in Virginia, First Lady Michelle Obama headed out on the campaign trail for her husband. Dressed in pastel colors that favor her in a turquoise colored blouse, loud orange skirt and the gazelle like bare forearms that have become part of her signature ‘look’, the attractive and charming Obama delivered a speech before about 400 supporters of the President.  

The event took place in the hot and uncomfortable Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Minnieville, Va., a state where at the moment the President maintains a slight lead in the polls and where the Latino vote will be decisive to his success. There was a cadre of Latinos at the event organized by Melody Gonzalez from the group ‘Obama for America’.
Mrs. Obama rehearsed what will probably become the stump speech of her campaign outlining the working class roots and values of her family and that of the President and reminding the audience that the first law the President signed upon entering the White House was the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act”. In a confident and self assured manner, Michelle continued to enumerate the achievements of the administration. She confessed the campaign will be hard fought and at one point admitted the margin of victory will be much closer than in the first election of the President.

She expressed her support for the “Dream Act” and said, “We shouldn’t punish youth born in this country because their parents were undocumented immigrants”. She pointed out that her husband had eliminated the threat of “that man behind the 9-11 attacks” and gave a detailed list of the progress and benefits of health reform. She spoke about the large automobile companies and how they’re all making a profit for the first time since 2004 and insinuated that during the crisis ‘others’ would have let these companies go bankrupt, a clear reference to Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

She said we needed to remember that when Obama took office the country was losing 750,000 jobs a month and that during his mandate there have been 27 consecutive months of job growth. She exhorted her followers to work hard during the election of that “great person that we all love”.

In a serious and focused manner, Michelle Obama covered the basic themes of the campaign; defense of the middle class, women’s rights, Latino advancement and protection of the progress made in health care, foreign policy and the economy. She extends and amplifies the popularity of the President since she’s admired for her grace and image as a woman of simplicity and common sense. Always with an elegant bearing and a ready smile on her she’s of great advantage for the President and promises to be used frequently in this way during the Presidential campaign.

The audience, enthusiastic and admiring of Ms. Obama, forgot about the stuffy atmosphere, lack of organization and the impediments of the Secret Service who corralled the public corralled in the parking lot and locked the audience in the hot venue for close to 15 minutes after the first lady had left.