Michelle Speaks: The world that is, the world that should be

Ooh, ooh, I saw her speech!  No, not in Denver, not even live.  Bedtime and a 17-YO broken TV prevented that.  But no matter, there's always the computer (for when the house is quiet).  If you didn't catch her, you can read her speech here or listen to it here.  Either way, well worth it.  I was glad that she referenced an earlier speech of her husband's where he summarizes so well the importance - and promise - of citizen involvement in our government:

Barack stood up that day and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about the world as it is and the world as it should be. And he said that all too often we accept the distance between the two and settle for the world as it is, even when it doesn’t reflect our values and aspirations.

But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves, to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be.

There it is, mamas, the raison d'etre for Activistas.  Because we see the failings for American families, and are working hard to improve them.  Because we, too, see how it should be, and we think that's how it can be.  And boy would it be a whole lot easier to move from is to should with Obama in the White House!

And aside from some great pieces about Hillary Clinton cracking a few (million!) glass ceilings and how important her children are in all this, she concluded with another strong statement about how we (yes, WE) can make this country the place we think it ought to be.  All talk?  Could be, but deep down I doubt it.  In any event, it sure resonates with this change-seeking mama.  She said:

And as I tuck [my girls] into bed at night, I think about how one day, they’ll have families of their own. And one day, they—and your sons and daughters—will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to doubting and to start dreaming.   How this time, in this great country, where a girl from the south side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House. We committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.

Oh mamas.  How very much I want to see her in the White House (and him, too...).  I've taken to asking myself a daily question - to which my answer is not nearly as strong as it ought to be: What have I done today to get Obama elected?  'Cause willing it to be plus casting my ballot on November 4th does not a victory make.  Not to be too nosy, but it's kind of my nature: what have you done today to get Obama elected? 

Comments

[Jay]

How many votes does it take to get the Democrates attention? No one knows, 18 million isn't enough.
Obama closed the door on women & McCain kicked it open.

[Monica in Cali]

I will head straight to a therapist for the first time in my life if Obama loses. I probably should have when Bush won his second term.

Anywho, I recently sent a note to all in my address book about the "Fight the Smear" link on BO's site...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

I lovingly explained that I am not asking them to vote for him as much as I am asking them to seek the truth before they make their decisions. The link on his site provides the truth, not just as stated by BO, but also by sources like factcheck.org and others. Send out the link to your people.
Again, I framed my email in a realllly non-threatening manner, so that the folks who may turn off and tune out wouldn't. It's so very clear to most of us, but not to all, so graciousness and clarity needed to communicate clearly.

Fight The Smear!!

Oh ya, and Michelle and Hillary both left me teary. I love them both. Yep, I said it. What a wonderful example of mothers who live in passion, strength and goodness.

[Rachel]

After seeing both Michelle Obama's and Hillary Clinton's speeches, and I have to admit to my geeky side, I watched CSPAN and caught the speech made by the President of Planned Parenthood at the convention. I have to say that I can see we are at the cusp for real change not only for women's rights, our childrens rights and the progress for our nation. But more so the change that happens generationally. After the passing this year of my husband's grandmother, age 103, the beginning of the greatest generation. We're seeing a twinkle of where we are about to take that.

I don't think the 103 yearold woman I knew, who lied about her age (16) to get a job (saying she was 19) to help her family. I don't think she ever thought at that time that there would be all of these strong women and men out there advocating for women and families.

But I also realize this change has taken a very long time to achieve and I hope that with our help as progressive parents we can keep the ball moving forward, or simply as Hillary channeled Harriet Tubman, "keep going" that we continue the work to do that. So from all of those conversations we have with our kids at night time when we tuck them in about what they want to be in the future or when they are talking to us as we drive them from school to soccer and dance, we listen, support and guide.

I also think taking a true interest in our society, understanding how we work politically to make change and in some way take part in our own republic and democracy is just as important. Sometimes, as busy Mamas, we may only have time to cast our ballot. But we should also at least try to keep up on topics and connect with eachother. The sweetest is when we have time actually do more than GOTV and we can help out. The Obama campaign is a prime example of grassroots activism. But it doesn't need to be a major party player to volunteer for, it's simple as cleaning up our neighborhoods, reading in our kids classroom and modeling ourselves as good citizens to children.

I think I may have digressed but simply these ladies, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton are where they are because there were so many Mom's and Dad's out there who "kept going and didn't look back." And we can take that and build upon it.

[rockstar mama]

I agree w/ the Andrea that the whole "Why she so angry?" line that the wingnuts spew is very thinly veiled (if it's veiled at all) racism. But even they were admitting - albeit grudginly - that she hit it out of the park last night.

And on a shallow note, what a great dress that was!

[Andrea]

I loved Michelle Obama! I thought her speech was fantastic. I'd be so thrilled to have her as First Lady. The whole bit with the kids and Barach afterwards was pretty cute too.

The only thing I didn't like was all the commentary afterwards from talking heads, their veiled racism, about how great it was that she finally showed people how much like them she is. How much she loves her country. How her values are just like those of most Americans. We have such a long way to go in this country. Hopefully electing Obama will be one giant step forward.