Michelle Obama in Denver: Barack is candidate of change
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Chris Schneider / The Rocky
Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter, from left, Erin S. Egan, Jim White, Michelle Obama, Jason Owens, Julie Rodriguez and Kristy Judd have their picture taken after Obama arrived at Centennial Airport in Centennial on Wednesday.
Michelle Obama was both personal and policy-driven while speaking to a crowd of about 150 who paid from $1,000 to $10,000 to sip wine, eat dinner standing up and hear her talk.
She got the laughs - telling a story about how Barack Obama had asked her out - but she also got solemn silence when she painted contrasts between her husband and his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain.
"We have one candidate who essentially is telling us every day that the world as it is is just fine, that what we've been doing for the last eight years is fine," she said Wednesday. "Stay the course. Don't make too many changes. And then we have this other candidate - Barack Obama - who is saying every day that the world as it is is not right. It's not good enough."
She proceeded to paint a dark picture of America, going through a list of areas in which she believes the nation has been underperforming - education, health care and the economy - under President Bush.
"I wish we had time to be divided," she said. "I wish we had time to be upset. To be angry. To be disappointed. I wish we did. Because if we had time for that, then things wouldn't be so bad right now. Instead, we're in a place where another four or eight years of the world as it is will devastate the life of some child."
Tom Kise, spokesman for McCain, disagreed.
He said McCain has a plan to grow the economy by making it easier for small businesses to expand - the backbone, he said, of the nation's economic engine.
Michelle Obama also threw out some red meat for Democrats who oppose the Iraq war, saying it was time to end a conflict that should never have been authorized. Her comments may have been designed to assure supporters that her husband's Iraq stance hasn't changed.
Michelle Obama's trip to Colorado was her first since June 2007. The fundraiser was at the Grand Hyatt, the same place McCain will be next week.
Because of the state's battleground status, the campaigns have been beating a path through Colorado.
The fundraiser also appeared to be aimed at some fence-mending between the Obama campaign and that of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Former Clinton National Co-Chairman Wellington Webb was there, and officials said he and his wife have been working with the Obama campaign closely. Michelle Obama also paid tribute to the Clinton campaign during her remarks.
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July 16, 2008
9:07 p.m.
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catlady writes:
Mrs. Obama,
Please go home and leave us alone. If I wanted to live in a Communist country, I'd move it to Cuba. Take your change for the worse back to Chi town. I hear they like crazy commies there.
July 16, 2008
9:31 p.m.
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GK writes:
grow up and go away cat lady. we don't like you and your kind here.
July 16, 2008
9:49 p.m.
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ifyem writes:
Hey Cat Lady, why don't you try having an open mind for once??? Oh yeah, I forgot that only cats can stand your nasty presence!!! MEOW!!!!!!!!!!
July 16, 2008
10:06 p.m.
mhow88 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
July 16, 2008
10:54 p.m.
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winechrist writes:
McCain is not perfect but he is no Bush. Obama is untested. He is an empty suit. I am going with the guy who legitimately served his country, John McCain. I think Obama's campaign will implode after he goes overseas. He cannot have it both ways, and even Atlanta's favorite brain fart, CNN, cannot save him in the end.
July 16, 2008
11:59 p.m.
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farsidefan writes:
So Winechrist,
If you don't want to vote for a man who is untested, but vote for one who legitimately served his country than I assume you voted for Kerry. If you did, than I accept your logic. If not, stop flip flopping.
July 17, 2008
12:59 a.m.
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angryman1n writes:
Shouldn't Obama keep her out of the limelight if he doesn't want his wife critisized???? (Just a thought)
Oh, and I'm instulted that she thinks out world is so bad off. I have more "HOPE" than that.
July 17, 2008
1 a.m.
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samsmargolis writes:
Isn't she giving everyone the universal sign for "I have to go potty?"
July 17, 2008
6:43 a.m.
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vudumom writes:
We have all seen that Obama is the candidate of change.
He changes his stance on every position he has, depending on what the crowd he is speaking to wants to hear or his handlers want him to say. He is no different than the any other politician that is running or voted into office today, yesterday or years ago.Nothing is different.
They ONLY thing that sets him apart and makes him totally different than any other candidate is his skin color.
The change people are voting for is the color of the presidential candidate.
Obama is like a new iphone or video game.. Everyone wants one because it's different and new. However it really turns out to be the same thing in a different color and package.
July 17, 2008
8:48 a.m.
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Igoe writes:
Whoa. It seems that those who would criticize Sen. Obama are also the last to actually READ anything he has written or said over the last 4 years. He has been steadfast and principled in his policy commitments as a public servant.
If the urge continues to blurt something that is wholly unsupported by information, please switch your mouth (and your keyboard) to STFU mode.
July 17, 2008
9:29 a.m.
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Igoe writes:
Tommy,
I've read Obama's agenda, and it looks nothing like the schizo-turner-diaries crap you wrote. Look it up. BarackObama.com
On second reading, I've changed my mind... you are in immediate need of some serious medication, Tommy.
July 17, 2008
10:58 a.m.
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choice2008 writes:
Barack Obama's background and stand on the issues are easily available to anyone who has the ability to use the internet for more than posting comments that demonstrate a lack of initiative and an abundance of self-imposed ignorance. It's tiresome that the same drivel is repeated over and over, claiming someone else's catchy phrase or recycled conclusions based on nothing as a substitute to taking the initiative to do some basic research. This election is too important to believe that our right to vote frees us from the responsibility to become informed. Advancing as fact an agenda which probably was a cut-and-paste effort from an easily-discredited source should be an automatic revocation of the right to vote. Fanning either fear or half-baked impressions without bothering to learn where the candidates actually stand does nothing but make questionable the wisdom of putting in our hands the responsibility with which we have been entrusted. The election and your candidate of choice and why it is you make that decision is a great deal more important than posting a better-worded (but not necessarily better-formed) post than the next guy.
July 17, 2008
11:34 p.m.
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clyde writes:
Obama want to put his spouse off limits for criticism, because she isn't running, but then sends her out to do the campaigning. This is typical Obama, wanting to make comments verboten while making the object of the comments a central part of his campaign. This is incredibly disingenuous, and a slap in the face to anyone that values honesty, which Dumbo does not have. He is simply a bought-and-paid-for Chicago Machine Politician. But on the other hand, he is the best politician that money can buy. Just ask Rezko.