by John McCormick
As she has campaigned on her husband's behalf over the past 18 months, Michelle Obama often talks about the rigors of daily life for an American mother.
There was extra pressure in the room Monday, however, as she headlined a fundraiser in Chicago that had included an earlier speech by healthy eating guru Alice Waters, who runs the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif.
"You can't just make a dinner," Michelle Obama said. "It's got to be a nutritious dinner, grown with good, fresh, clean food. That takes time. Trust me."
The line was one of many that drew applause for Michelle Obama in her appearance before a crowd of more than 800 at the Palmer House Hilton that included her mother, Marian Robinson.
The event for the Obama Victory Fund raised an estimated $750,000, with tickets ranging from $250 to the limit of $28,500. The joint committee has higher contribution limits and is run with the Democratic National Committee.
In her appearance before the "Women for Obama" group, Michelle Obama also gave the obligatory nod to Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"My husband is a better candidate because of her. My daughters will think of themselves differently because of her. All of our children, our girls, will believe in the possibility of something bigger because of her," she said. "She has been nothing but gracious and open and warm and generous in this effort."
Michelle Obama also noted the first "Women for Obama" event was held in Chicago, way back in April 2007.
"Look where we have come," she said. "Can you believe it? It's pretty amazing."
Michelle Obama stressed the importance women will play in November's election, noting that her husband won the women's vote in 15 of the 35 states that held primaries and that female voters made up 54 percent of the electorate in 2004.
"We're going to decide the outcome of this race," she said.
The aspiring first lady said "Women for Obama" includes a core group of about 30,000 women. She said 3,500 of them had hosted house parties and "Girl's Night Out" events to help the campaign organize supporters, 200,000 phone calls have been made and 250,000 post cards have been sent to undecided women voters.
Various subgroups have also been formed, including one called "Obama's Mamas" for older women.
Michelle Obama also recounted her often-used story about not initially wanting her husband to run for president.
"I thought politics was a mean, rough business," she said. "And honestly, the last thing I wanted for my girls was to have them grow up in this, have their lives turned upside down in the midst of all of this, to have them hear their parents being criticized on national TV."
But after replacing her "me, mommy" hat with an "us, mommy" hat, she said she changed her mind and now works as hard as she can for her husband's election.
"That's why I'm a woman for Obama," she said. "Because I believe that helping Barack Obama become the next President of the United States is the best investment I could ever make in my daughters' future."
In an effort to try to stress policy as well as politics, each guest at the fundraiser was also given a small blue booklet outlining Obama's "plan to support working women and families."
On the food front, Waters, who had helped prepare the lunch, said she had recently saw a message that she believes illustrates the problem with junk food being served to the nation's children and adults.
"If you are what you eat, then I'm fast, cheap and easy," she said, noting a bumper sticker she had recently seen. "Now, is this really what we want the destiny of our nation to be?"
For her part, Michelle Obama said she would push for healthier food, if her husband makes it to the White House.
"It is a message that we have talked about more and more in our household," she said. "The food that we that we put into our children's bodies, we have seen the impact of it over the course of even a short period of time, where we've changed how we've eaten."
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Comments
Happy to hear that she can take the time to make a nutritious dinner for her family, when thousands of children are going to bed hungry. That is if they have a bed to go to. Count your blessings. Maybe instead of begging money for her husbands campaign, she should think of what that money could do for the hungry children of "this" country. Come to think of it how much money was spent on Obam's trip around the world. I bet that could have fed a lot of children they would be happy to get something to eat even if it weren't nutritious.
Posted by: RFB-IL | July 28, 2008 5:38 PM
RFB-IL -- and just think of the millions of people who could have been fed and helped in other ways if we weren't spending trillions on an ill-conceived and unnecessary war.
Posted by: SouthSideD | July 28, 2008 6:00 PM
RFB-IL
You're so right. She should take Cindy McCain's example. Cindy gave all her millions to the poor, right? Cindy lives on bread and water in solidarity with the impoverished, with whom she works dawn to dusk, right? McCain has suspended fiundraising and his given his complete warchest to feed the hungry. He will campaign barefoot, wearing sack cloth and ashes.
Glad to see the Republicans have come around to see that wealth is evil, and that we must all be willing to sacrice everything for the poor, the richest most of all.
Posted by: MBT | July 28, 2008 6:11 PM
Great to know her children get to eat healthy fresh food...We have starving children and adults here in US..Perhaps she could give the proceeds to the food banks for them. For sure Obama doesn't need it..He can afford to fly all over the world for nothing........Wasted trip!!..Just foreign photo ops..
However, glad she had time to toss Hillary clinton a bone...Especialy since her dear husband threw HRC under the bus on many issues..racism and sexism just two to start with...Oh well..he will NEVER become President without HRC on his ticket anyway...........Sounds like just an ever day power lunch to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: typical texas | July 28, 2008 7:40 PM
RFB-IL,
Yes lets take Cindy McSame's example and steal of the recipe's she can find.
Cindy Mcsame is nothing but a criminal drug addict/ shop lifter. that is a fact, google it!
Posted by: mike | July 28, 2008 7:57 PM
typical texas, nice to see someone here has brains and compassion. mike I don't get it "example and steal of the recipe's she can find" makes no sense. What were you trying to say here. Cindy did not give her millions to the poor, that whole comment was stupid, but she works for a charity that helps disfigured children get help to make their lives better. What has michelle done besides cook nutritious meals for her own kids. Cindy McCain had a drug problem, so big deal so do thousands of others in this country. Do you smoke? Isn't that supposed to be an addiction?
Posted by: RFB-IL | July 28, 2008 9:26 PM
MBT6:11pm-this is from the Swamp not long ago>McCain is a longtime globe-trotter, traveling to hot spots around the world during natural disasters to bring medical relief. She founded the American Voluntary Medical Team in 1988, bringing doctors and nurses wherever they were needed.
She sits on the board of CARE, which fights global poverty and works to empower women, as well as Operation Smile and HALO Trust. Operation Smile provides medical procedures to children with facial deformities and HALO Trust removes landmines from post-conflict countries.
I read what M. Obama said-"You can't just make a dinner," Michelle Obama said. "It's got to be a nutritious dinner, grown with good, fresh, clean food. That takes time. Trust me." Then, I wondered if this is a hint of a MANDATE ha?!
Posted by: Teresa | July 29, 2008 3:53 AM
Sounds like switching to food is to get away from her Un American Feeling
Posted by: George | July 29, 2008 7:39 AM
I'm an Obama supporter--but the chicago crowd does NOT know how to appeal to the country and close the deal. An event like this is basically--'look at us--how groovy we can do our lives up' thing and it doesn't play in peoria well, as they say. Hillary needs to be named as Veep and set loose to campaign and SOON. Obama should have received a MUCH bigger bump from all that effort in the mideast (and meantime mcsame meets with 50 people here, 50 people there, and a few 'failed' media events over a few days and he's close enough to steal the election).
this former obama, former edwards, former hillary present obama supporter says we got trouble. The campaign that NEARLY beat Hillary (she conceded--deal with it--he BECAME the candidate the way Bush became president) is not gonna get us there, kids. It just won't. We need Hillary on the ticket or it will be close enough for the repugs to steal again. And they know how to steal it better than we know how to keep them from doing it.
Posted by: Hillary as veep or it'll be mcsame | July 29, 2008 9:37 AM
Mrs. Obama pointedly left out any mention of sending her children to an exclusive private school while she and her husband oppose private school grants for the poor children who live in her neighborhood, most of whom are black and have to attend public schools with no choice in the matter. Maybe she should be as concerned for poor people about feeding the mind as feeding the body.
Posted by: Adriana | July 29, 2008 10:04 AM
How dare the Obama's eat! They should starve! Those elitists!
I'm voting for McCain. I know he and Cindy only have their personal chef make 5 course dinners every night, not eight. They're just common everday people like me.
Posted by: Republican stooge | July 29, 2008 11:52 AM
Envy doesn't become you people. (and by "you people" I mean you whiners about what they eat vs. the "starving" people in the world)
So, hmmm. now we rag on the Obamas about the nice lives they lead--forgetting all about the privileged lives of past presidents/contenders and their wives both before and after the White House.
You sound like bitter hypocrites. Stop hatin'.
Oh, and somebody pointed out, what say ye about all the money spent on this stupid war? Do you have any clue what all that could go towards at home??? But, of course you can't see the forest for all the gosh-danged trees.
Posted by: Sigh! | July 29, 2008 3:51 PM
What has Cindy McCain got to do with this? Are you people just plain envious and jealous of the wealth she was BORN into? Yes, she was addicted, at one time, to pain pills because of painful back surgery.And yes, she does spend a great deal of time and money to help underprivileged children. And Michelle ... what has she done??
Posted by: Sam | July 30, 2008 12:40 AM