Michelle Obama courts American working class
If Michelle Obama had her way, her husband Barack would have become a teacher, a writer, a singer, a dancer β anything but a politician
INDIANAPOLIS: If Michelle Obama had her way, her husband Barack would have become a teacher, a writer, a singer, a dancer β anything but a politician with the chance to make history as the first black president of the United States.
She described to an audience in Indianapolis how they struggled, like any other young couple in Middle America, to raise two children and pay off debts.
ββWe are still so close to the lives that most Americans are living,ββ she said. ββAnd I donβt know about you but for most of my lifetime, Iβve felt disconnected from Washington.ββ
The Obamas hope the ββregular guyββ narrative will resonate with the white working class voters that the Illinois senator has had so much trouble winning over and who may be the key to his White House bid.
Cast as an elitist by New York Senator Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic Party nomination, and John McCain, the Republican senator he could face in Novemberβs presidential election, Obama has turned to his wife to bolster his ββclose to the groundββ credentials.
ββWeβre a young couple with small kids with all the challenges and the emotions and the stresses that come with raising kids, like being a working mom,ββ said Michelle Obama, 44, who is on leave from her job as hospital administrator and now divides her time between campaigning and raising the coupleβs two daughters β Sasha, 6, and Malia, 9.
Though she is a Harvard-trained lawyer like her 46-year-old husband, she said the couple was not far from the years of paying off student loans and working to ββkeep up with bills.ββ
The Indiana forum marked a rare event where, instead of just introducing her husband, Michelle Obama spoke as long as he did and fielded questions with him.