With virtually unmatched popularity at her back, First Lady Michelle Obama debuts on the stump for Hillary Clinton Friday, hoping to galvanize suburban voters behind a candidate she once fiercely opposed.
At a campaign rally in northern Virginia, Obama will work to convince her and her husband’s supporters that Clinton is also worthy of their votes. The rally on the campus of George Mason University is timed ahead of the commonwealth’s October 17 voter registration deadline.
Once designated “The Closer” on President Barack Obama’s campaigns for the White House, Obama is entering a race more bitterly fought than either of her husband’s own election battles. Largely averse to partisan bickering, the first lady hopes to avoid being dragged into this year’s fracas, instead making the case for Clinton as a uniquely qualified candidate.
“Her focus will be on urging voters in key swing states, especially young people and African Americans, to register to vote, and be sure to cast their vote in November,” said Obama’s communications director, Caroline Adler Morales. “The first lady’s remarks supporting Secretary Clinton will be focused on the qualifications and demeanor a president needs, the values we hold dear as Americans, and our shared hopes for the future.”
Those are broadly the themes the first lady addressed during a well-received speech at this summer’s Democratic National Convention. Speaking on the event’s first night, Obama’s 10-minute address made an impassioned argument for keeping Donald Trump far from the Oval Office.
“The issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters,” she declared in July. “When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady, and measured, and well-informed.”
Clinton’s campaign is relying on the Obamas to help persuade the coalition of minorities, young people and women who propelled them to the White House to cast ballots for this year’s Democratic candidate. The president made his first solo appeal this week, appearing at a campaign rally in Philadelphia and phoning in to African-American radio to talk up Clinton.
“I get frustrated hearing folks say, ‘You know, we’re so excited with Barack, we love Michelle, they take Hillary for granted,'” Obama told syndicated host Frankie Darcell. “This is not a reality show. This is not something where it’s all flash and fizzle.”
The first lady is Clinton’s most popular campaign surrogate, with polls pegging her favorable rating near 60%. She’s largely avoided the type of policy role that Clinton sought as a presidential spouse, choosing to focus on more broadly accepted topics like supporting military families and combating obesity in children.
She’s carefully positioned herself as a cultural icon, appearing on popular television programs as a vehicle to advance her agenda. This week she co-hosted Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, partaking in a stunt that saw the host teach the first lady how to shop in a CVS.
Those types of appearances have lent the first lady a degree of authenticity the Clinton campaign hopes will extend to the political realm.
“When you’re in public service, you’re first lady, the president and you’re interacting with the world, people can smell inauthenticity,” Mrs. Obama told Oprah Winfrey during a summit on women’s issues in June. “They know when you are not what you appear to be. And that was always something that I said in this role that I want people to know me, know Michelle, Michelle Robinson Obama, not the first lady. In every interaction I have had with anybody who’s had some connection with me, I have tried to be authentically myself.”
