Michelle Obama played the age-old role of wife as character witness for a politically ambitious husband, in this case a husband with a strange last name and a dubious religious affiliation. As for questions about her own character, Michelle Obama had to be her own character witness. Michelle Obama had to speak for Michelle Obama. And that she did last night, beautifully so. It was a proud moment for women in general, and African American women especially. <\/p>\n
\n
From her story about her proud stay-at-home mom Marian Robinson to that of her blue collar father Frasier Robinson who worked hard, suffered silently, and died much too soon from complications from mulitiple sclerosis. From the choice of her impeccable make-up and the color and cut of her dress which were all intended to soften her look, to her charming facial expressions and the gentle movement of her hands while speaking, Michelle Obama deftly took up the task of recasting herself for the sake of the her husband’s career. <\/p>\n
In her speech Michelle Obama had to dispel any suspicion Americans might have about her being an angry black woman. In her speech she had to debunk the stereotype some in the media have attached to her as sassy, opinionated and unpatriotic. In her speech she had to reassure jittery Americans that there’s no difference between Michelle and Barack Obama and their families of origin from that of the typical (white) American family. She drew repeated parallels between the values she (and Barack) was raised with and those shared by average hard-working American families. Yes, we come from strong struggling mothers and fathers who instilled in us values and a strong work ethic. There is nothing to fear, we aren’t that different. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the most adorable, meta-laden, tone-setting line for Michelle Obama’s speech, in my opinion, was not spoken by Michelle Obama, but by her brother, basketball coach Craig Robingson, who introduced his sister by confiding that even though, as children they were only allowed to watch one hour of television Michelle was the one who managed to commit to memory every episode of “The Brady Bunch.” Not “The Adams Family. Not “Good Times.” Not “The Jeffersons.” And definitely, not “All in the Family.” <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I wish I could recall previous speeches by wives of former presidential candidates and presumptive nominees, but I can’t at this moment. Teresa Heinz Kerry. Tipper Gore. Hillary Clinton. Laura Bush. Barbara Bush. Rosalyn Carter. (That’s as far back as my political memory goes.) Blank. <\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
I’m sure each politician’s wife spoke well and said what she had to assure the American public that her husband brought to the job as nominee and to the office character and good, sound family values. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Michelle Obama’s speech was no different from that of other wives of politicians. At the same time it was a lot different. Her own character as an African American woman was on the line as well. And that of millions of other women of color whom she represent.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Michelle Obama proved last night that she is warm, caring, confident, intelligent, well-educated, and very comfortable standing before thousands to speak. Did I mention that Michelle Obama is smart? In fact, Michelle Obama did exactly what a woman with her background and credentials was supposed to do and what women like her do all the time when they stand up to speak. She spoke like a woman in charge. What’s so strange about that? Nothing. But it’s just not an image of black women that America is accustomed to seeing. Makes you wonder whose character ought to be questioned. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wives of politicans are supposed to cast light on a different side of their husbands. In the tough and tumble world of politics where candidates are expected to be tough and unblinking, voters (according to conventional wisdom) want to be assured that the candidate has a softer, regular-guy side also. One that only his wife and children can prove that’s there. That’s what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[73,30,72],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08","tag-2008-dnc","tag-barack-obama","tag-michelle-obama"],"yoast_head":"\n
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In the tough and tumble world of politics where candidates are expected to be tough and unblinking, voters (according to conventional wisdom) want to be assured that the candidate has a softer, regular-guy side also. One that only his wife and children can prove that’s there. 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Weems is a nationally-renowned theologian and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Church whose scholarly insights into modern faith, biblical texts, and the role of spirituality in everyday lives have made her a much sought after author and speaker. Dr. Weems, formerly a member of the faculty of Vanderbilt Univeristy and Spelman College, has been celebrated by Ebony Magazine as one of America's top 15 preachers. She is founder of Something Within, a consulting service providing guidance for women of faith interested in connecting with their inner wisdom as well as interested in balancing faith and work, and their values with their vocation. Dr. Weems is a popular radio and television personality, regularly providing expert commentary on religion, gender, race, and sexuality. A guest speaker for numerous national gatherings of religious, civic, and sorority organizations, local churches, community wide events, and radio and television programs, Dr. Weems is in much demand as a speaker, preacher, and workshop leader. Ebony Magazine named her one of America's top 15 Her work as a scholar and a religious thinker has led to invitations to serve as a panelist for Bill Moyer's 1995 PBS award-winning Genesis Project, for various A&E, BBC, National Public Radio, the Michael Baisden radio show, and Hallmark cable programs on topics as wide ranging as miracles in the Bible, women, violence, and spirituality, and male-female relationships. She appeared on \"FlashPoints\" with Bryant Gumbel and Gwen Ifill to discuss matters related to religion and public life. Dr. Renita Weems is the author of several widely acclaimed books on women's spirituality and wholeness: Just A Sister Away (1987) and I Asked for Intimacy (1993), Showing Mary: How Women Can Share Prayers, Wisdom, and the Blessings of God (2003), and, more recently, What Matters Most: Ten Passionate Lessons from the Song of Solomon (2004). Her special talent is in drawing life inspirational wisdom from stories in the Bible about the triumphs and failures of ordinary people. A former contributing writer to Essence Magazine back in the late 80's, she has recently renewed her relationship with Essence with an article appearing in the December 2004 issue entitled \"Sanctified and Suffering.\" Dr. Weems writes a popularly bi-monthly e-column for www.beliefnet.org which focuses on matters of love and relationships. She has been particularly active lately speaking to professional women's organizations about women's spiritual values and support systems, juggling family and work, work and love, and women finding a balance between their spiritual values and their professional aspirations. She taught from 1987-2004 on the divinity faculty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN as a professor of Hebrew Bible. She served in 2003-2005 as the William and Camille Cosby Professor of Humanities at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ordained an elder in the AME tradition, Dr. Weems has written about the waxing and waning of faith all believers endure on the spiritual journey. Her 1999 book Listening for God: A Minister's Journey through Silence and Doubt (Simon & Schuster) won the Religious Communicators' Council's prestigious 1999 Wilbur Award for excellence in communicating spiritual values to the secular media. She earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and her Master and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. Finally, Dr. Renita Weems lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and daughter. Her readers can keep up with Dr. Weems by visiting her her blog, SomethingWithin.com, which allows her to keep in touch with readers interested in exploring women's values and interested in conversations about faith, love, values, and inner wisdom, and other topics of interest to what Dr. Weems likes to call \"thinking women of faith.\"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/rweems"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"obma](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/126\/import\/imgs\/obma%20michelle.jpg\")
Wives of politicans are supposed to cast light on a different side of their husbands. In the tough and tumble world of politics where candidates are expected to be tough and unblinking, voters (according to conventional wisdom) want to be assured that the candidate has a softer, regular-guy side also. One that only his wife and children can prove that’s there. That’s what wives of political candidates are supposed to do when they speak on their husband’s behalf. That’s what Michelle Obama’s spectacular speech last night at the DNC was supposed to assure the American public: Barack Obama is a regular guy. <\/p>\n