Michelle Obama’s Gold Medal Speech
I’ll keep this short: That was as impressive as anything Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps or Natalie Coughlin accomplished in the last couple weeks.
I’ve followed this campaign as closely as one can from California, and have seen bits and pieces of Michelle Obama. But watching her tonight I was honestly astounded by the deftness of her delivery of a politically challenging, multifaceted speech — weaving her and Barack’s family stories into the American story — and her undeniable emotional honesty.
This is a speech could have really gone off the rails. Axelrod & Co. had freighted it with grand symbolism and gilded rhetorical flourishes. But Michelle delivered it with seemingly un-teleprompted ease, and a non-highfalutin’ grace.
Barack couldn’t remember whether he was in St. Louis or Kansas City. But Michelle’s speech sure as hell played in Peoria.