Michelle

Today I met Michelle Obama. As part of the final push to get people out to vote before Election Day, Barack and Michelle have been campaigning separately to cover more ground in the key swing states. New Mexico along with 33 other states allows people to vote early i.e. any day in the fortnight leading up to the general election so as to avoid long queues on Election Day. As the Obama campaign feels that it can only win on a high turnout, they have been really pushing people to vote early and that's what I have been mainly doing these past few days in my volunteering efforts.

So the official title of the event I attended was the "Early Vote for Change Rally". It took place in Las Vegas, New Mexico, a relatively poor Hispanic town of around 15,000 inhabitants in northern New Mexico. Here is an excerpt from her speech.

To compare Michelle's oratorical abilities to Barack's would be unfair but she is an extremely charismatic speaker in her own right. She is very personable and no matter how large the crowd is she makes you feel like she is speaking directly to you. Not only that, but she has an innate quality of being able to appeal to all sections of society.

After she spoke, I began analysing what she said and she managed to "tick all the boxes" to put it in crude political strategy terms. She convincingly played the part of caring mother, devoted wife, proud daughter, concerned citizen, hard-working career woman and quite frankly, future First Lady. Always a fan of Hillary Clinton, I can say with conviction that Michelle Obama came across as wholly genuine in a way that Hillary is incapable. It truly was a sight to behold. Here is a video of her close up where I got to shake her hand.