Michelle…Our Belle

 

Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble  -- The Beatles

Our elegant, statuesque, brainy First Lady knocked ‘em dead last night.  I’m still not clear if she was using the prompter or if she was speaking extemporaneously, but one thing I am sure of is she spoke from her lovely heart.

Gee Whiz…I love that guy – Carla Thomas

I had a conversation with a friend this morning about how anyone could have ever referred to Mrs. Obama as an “Angry Black Woman.”  This woman isn’t angry.  She is in love.  She is in love with her husband, thank goodness, but she is also in love with this country.  To fail to see that is to fail to open one’s eyes and ears.

Michelle Obama is in love with her daughters, her oft-stated raison d'être. Her priorities are well-ordered and well-known.  Money?  I’m sure she thinks it’s nice to have it, but it does not seem to rank all that high on her list.  What does rank high are things we all care about (or should): health, family and other people.

There were people watching who actually zeroed in on her manicure and wondered on Twitter what the brand and shade were.  Really?  On the news this morning, I heard someone speculate that her shoes were from J. Crew!

But while the vapid were judging her wardrobe, I was moved to tears by her words and her delivery of words like these:

“Well, today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are – it reveals who you are.”

One of the words that appeared most in her speech was “opportunity.”  To me, that one word is the linchpin of the American Dream we have heard so much about these past few weeks.  Most Americans don’t expect to get something for nothing, contrary to the beliefs of so many on the right.  Most Americans simply want a fair shot at achieving that dream.  They want a real opportunity to work hard and pull themselves and their families up into a decent life.

Ann Romney, in my opinion, also did an exemplary job at delivering her address at the RNC.  As a woman – a woman who is always looking for and acknowledging other women who excel – I was proud to hear myself think that Ann Romney speaks with authority and conviction.  In fact, she does so far better than her husband, the candidate.   I simply didn’t believe the words she spoke as much as I believed Michelle’s.

Whichever way this election turns out, these men who would be President in 2013 both have powerful campaigners in their life partners.  They are both smart.  They are both great mothers.  They are both beautiful.

In these times when money-grubbing television executives prefer to make millionaires out of truly angry black women by exploiting their loud, obnoxious, street-based antics – NeNe Leakes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta comes immediately to mind – it is gratifying and pride-inducing to see a black woman from humble beginnings work and choose her way to a true role model for women of any and all colors and creeds. 

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand – Helen Reddy