Showing world why she makes him better
Michelle, like Barack, knows what it takes to be a leader
KANSAS CITY -- She has his back. That's the one thing voters should be clear about after Michelle Obama's big night at the Democratic convention.
Four years ago, when little-known Barack Obama burst onto the national political scene, Michelle was at his side.
She was there to give him the support only a loving wife can give and to provide the comfort that needs no words.
But on Monday night, Michelle Obama showed the nation that she was also a woman who could make the sacrifices that are often required of a first lady.
She took the podium at the Democratic convention alone to speak up for the man she knows better than anyone else.
Given the closeness of this couple, Michelle would have wanted him there in Denver for her speech.
She and Barack are a team, a dynamic duo, if you will, that is poised to make history.
After all, a woman who has the spunk to tell her husband if he wants to run for president of the U.S., he'll have to stop smoking, and a woman who makes sure despite the hoopla of a presidential campaign, she and her husband show up for her daughter's soccer games, clearly values family ties.
Still, she went out there, and as Obama has said about his wife in the past, she handled her business at the convention.
"I've come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend," Michelle Obama said.
"I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. I come here as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world," she said.
Unfortunately, because strong women like Michelle have been stereotyped as too this or too that, she has been the target of attacks that usually are reserved for the presidential candidate.
Most Americans have never seen a black woman like Michelle on this stage before.
They've seen Oprah and Tyra, but Michelle is not an entertainer or talk show host.
She's an African-American woman who has managed to live the American dream because she has been willing to work for it.
Frankly, the same people who heap high praise on U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and criticize blacks for failing to honor her to the degree that they think she ought to be honored, are the same people who are quick to criticize Michelle Obama's every move.
Indeed, if Michelle was as "mean" as her critics make her out to be, Barack Obama would have been in Denver watching her speech from behind a curtain, if need be, rather than with strangers in a private home.
Like her husband, Michelle Obama has made a commitment to lead.
It would have been a lot easier to sit back and let someone else take the heat. It would have been a lot easier for her to raise her daughters in the comfort of the home she and Barack have provided for them.
It would have been a lot easier to continue with a lifestyle where she could show up at the neighbor's house with her favorite potluck.
It would have been easier to maintain a lifestyle where getting out of the house for the day didn't require makeup, a hairstylist and a Secret Service detail.
On Monday night she gave America a glimpse of her own journey, with the hope that many Americans will see a little of themselves.
"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them," she said.
Needless to say, today Michelle Obama will be judged by some by the words she spoke. Others will judge her by the way she looked.
It doesn't really matter.
She's already passed the most important test.