Monday, August 25, 2008

"The Kind of First Lady I Will Become"

The Film.

Michelle loved her Daddy.

Barack says he liked him too.

Mom - we raised Craig and Michelle to go to college, but we teased them that they'd better come back to the neighborhood.

At first, Michelle worked at a big law firm. That's where she met Barack. She figured he was weird, because of his name.

Barack showed up late to his first meeting with Michelle, who'd been assigned to supervise. She had no ring, but was resistant to the idea of office dating.

Barack bought her an ice cream after a work event, and that's what won her over, Barack says.

The law firm wasn't for her, we're told, she started doing work that carried a mission, with Public Allies.

Next, we're told what a great mom she is. Family first.

Then, dad dies from MS. "I think about him everyday.... I want his legacy to work through them (her girls.) And hopefully, it will affect the kind of first lady I will become."

10:30 "Good evening, I am Craig Robinson, and Michelle Obama is my little sister."

Michelle was a fan of the Brady Bunch.

10:37 He introduces Michelle. She comes out confident and smiling. She looks good, and responds nicely to a standing ovation.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me to have Craig and my mom here tonight."

She speaks of improbable journeys. She loves her husband and believes he will be an extraordinary President. She loves her girls. Michelle's mother loves her. She misses her dad, who was her rock. He smiled in the face of pain.

She and Craig went to college. The American dream endures.

Despite his funny name and Hawaii, she realized when she met Barack that his family was just like hers. Good values, commitment to the kids.

Barack went to work in the neighborhoods rather than going to work on Wall Street, helping laid off steel workers. They believed that America should be a place where you can make it if you try.

All too often, Barack said, we accept the world as it is. He reminded us that we know what the world should look like.

I'm getting bored by this. Tempted to play solitaire. She's talking about good night kisses and military families saying grace. This is the woman who talked about how ignorant this country is, how sick its soul is. She's never been proud. But now she's proud of "people like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling."

All of us driven by the simple belief that the world as it is just won't do.

Camera cuts to Al Franken. Good timing.

That is why I love this country, says Michelle.

And in my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back. That's why I left a job at a big law firm.

She's a slick performer, this gal. Acting emotional and all.

Now, Iraq. Health Care. A world class education from pre-school to college for every child.

She's lowering her voice, sounding emotional as she shifts to Barack. She could have her own TV show - she could be Mary Tyler Moore or something. Very good technique, maybe too good - contrived enough that average viewers will notice.

The Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago.... We committed ourselves to building the world as it should be. Let's stand together to elect BO President of the United States.

God Bless You, and God Bless America.

Michelle finishes and the band plays Isn't She Lovely as the girls come onstage.

Michelle gets good grades - effective speech. But do people watch this stuff when there's a bad drama on TV?

10:56 - Barack joins in via satellite from Kansas City. He's loose and confident and compliments her. He's with the Gerardo family, he tells us, who he introduces, but his youngest daughter Sasha, very cute, keeps talking, so we don't ever find out why. Sasha apparently thinks Barack revolves around her (sign of a good father), so she keeps answering questions intended for Michelle. Apparently she used up all the time, because they're out at 11pm and we never learn anything about the Gerardos.

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