Michelle Obama Ups the Ante on Phenomenal at the Democratic National Convention

Michelle Obama’s journey is the true embodiment of the American Dream. She is the fulfillment of the promises set forth in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. Mrs. Obama is grace, elegance, and class personified. Michelle was a bit overcome and teary eyed when she told us, “This is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.” The soundbite of the night is not a soundbite at all it is the reality of the first African American family to reside in the White House.  That’s when I lost it. I didn’t even try to stop the tears of pride, and joy, from flowing. Look how far we have come. As a child President of the United States was never on my career possibility list. We are on the precipice of nominating the first woman for president. We can transition from the greatness of the Obamas to the 1^st Woman President in history. Or we can go from President Obama and the excellence of Michelle Obama to Donald Trump and Melania.

On a night where NJ Senator Corey Booker stood before the DNC and quoted from Dr. Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise. FLOTUS rose above the fray. She gave Secretary Clinton a resounding endorsement and reminded us what exactly is at stake if the Republican Nominee actually takes the Presidential Oath on January 20, 2017.

Mrs. Obama weaved her words together and took us on her journey from the south-side of Chicago to the White House Lawn where her “bubbly little girls played with their dogs”.  The lawn that now sees,” two beautiful, intelligent, black young women,” stride purposefully across it as they come into their own. She didn’t mention her days at Princeton, or the time she spent at Harvard getting her law degree. Again she didn’t have too because her words were not only steeped in the journey that began in Chicago, they were steeped in Ivy League greatness.

No one would’ve blamed Mrs. Obama if she had taken a few pot shots at the people who vilified her husband, her children, and her parenting skills. Some would even say she would’ve been justified after her speech was stolen and delivered before the Republican National Convention. Not FLOTUS. Nope, she never mentioned her plagiarized speech. There was no need. she told us what she tells her daughters when they are faced with a world that doesn’t measure up to their greatness, “when people go low we go high,” Obama said. And go high she did. If she had ended her speech there it would’ve been enough. It would’ve been more than enough. But she rose even higher.

She reminds us how truly great and remarkable this country is. She is a shining example of that greatness. America is not great because we are leaders of the Free World. This country is GREAT because of the extraordinary people who call the United States home. We are the children of immigrants who came to this country to escape religious persecution. We are political refugees and the children of political refugees who escaped war torn countries in search of the American Dream. We are children of slaves. It is the sum of all this country’s parts that make it great. From the painful, bitter pieces of our past to all of the glorious accomplishments the sum of all this country’s parts make it great.

Mrs.Obama gave a timeless speech for the ages. She was greatness personified. You can say what you want about Secretary Clinton. I however do not think Michelle Obama would lead us astray. The alternative to Secretary Clinton is too alarming, to dangerous to consider.  As our First Lady, Michelle Obama said, “we cannot sit back and hope that everything works out for the best. No, hear me. Between now and November, we need to do what we did eight years ago and four years ago. We need to knock on every door, we need to get out every vote, we need to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country into electing Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America!”

FLOTUS has spoken. In my head I hear Andra Day singing her hit song which could easily be the soundtrack for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It has definitely been the underlining soundtrack for President and First Lady Obama.

It’s time rise up and get to work.