About twelve hours before Michelle Obama and her two daughters graced the Pepsi Center Stage to speak to the Democratic National Convention, she did her walk through of her keynote address that would come later last night.
As Michelle and her brother Craig Robinson stand behind the podium checking sound, her standing position and the teleprompter, there are two little busy bees buzzing around the stage too. Malia and Natasha Obama. The two girls were fascinated by the huge stage and all the technology focused on their mom.
Dressed very casually with their spiral curls hairstyle, they are asking all the questions the average 10 year-old (Malia) and 7 year-old (Natasha) would. “Mommy, what is this?” as Natasha points to the gavel that will be use to start the convention. “Mommy, what does this do?” both girls ask about the screens that will scroll their mother’s speech.
The message here is yes, our potential first lady is a distinguished attorney, about to give the biggest speech of her life, but she is still a mother. And in all the hype, it is good to see her kids just be kids! None of this excitement changed the normal behavior of elementary school age children; that means lots of questions.
With the theme of “one nation” Michelle reminded us of her husband roots. Following Senator Ted Kennedy’s electrifying speech, she pick up where he left off —stressing both the past and the future. But she also emphasized that we must preserve the best of our country for the sake of our children.
The presence of the Obama daughters remind us that part of our urgency this election year is to repair America now in order to embetter the world these children will inherit. It’s a future that for Michelle and Barack Obama also means continuing the task of raising their two daughters.
