Are you ready? Are you fired up? These two questions are quickly becoming First Lady Michelle Obama’s catch slogan. She finishes each speech to democratic leaders, donors, and congregates by asking them, ‘has the match been lit, have they prepped themselves,’ because the race is on, and we need them to catch on like a wild fire, spreading the news, showing their support, and encouraging others to get on board. Are you ready? Are you fired up?
In recent polls, it has shown that the public’s opinion of First Lady Michelle Obama has remained consistently high, despite a drop in the public’s view of her husband. It appears that First Lady Obama is still favored in many groups, where their like for the President has dropped, and may prove to be the key, in getting them back in favor of the Democratic Party for the 2012 election. According to MSNBC, “Although she is popular with both sexes, women express a more favorable view of First Lady Obama with 47 percent of women and 31 percent of men saying they have a “very favorable" opinion of her.
A Change in Campaign Strategy
In the 2008 election, President Obama was able to devote most of his time to fundraising and campaigning, but now however as the acting President who must lead, help, address, and solve our nation’s current issues he is limited in how much time he has to devote to next year’s election, when today’s problems are demanding all of his energy. That being said, First Lady Obama was active in the 2008 election, participating in 30 midterm events, but has already a year out declared herself to be a major component in helping her husband, our President, remain our President for the next 4 years. She states that there are different dynamics this time, and we the people, the press, his supporters must use both our voice and resources to tell the world, not just the US, who we want to lead us in the next term.
President Obama campaigned his way into the Whitehouse to do the work of the people, and now it is the peoples turn to campaign, support vocally and financially, and when the time comes reelect him as man voted in by the people, to help the people, a man who is not above the people, but is of the people. First Lady imparts into voter after voter, supporter, after supporter, person after person that, “He needs you to work like you’ve never worked before” she goes on to add “and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.” Ultimately she wants you to see that their hearts are pumping the beats of our needs and it is the oxygen that we supply them, with our efforts of encouragement, that enable them to fight the hard and most difficult fight for our freedom to live freely, financially, spiritually, and verbally.
The Presidential Campaign Benefits of having a First Lady
- · Travel to smaller cities.
o On July 26, First Lady Obama attended a $1,000-and-up breakfast in Park City, Utah, and a $1,000-and-up luncheon in Aspen.
- · Show a different side of the President
o She humanizes her husband by sharing stories of their quiet moments, after their daughters are asleep, when Obama hunches over letters from struggling Americans. "I see the sadness and the worry creasing his face," she tells her listeners.
- · Make the campaign personal.
o First Lady Obama hauls in millions of campaign cash by sketching a portrait of her husband, drawn with an intimacy that no one else could duplicate.
- · Come at the campaign from a different angle.
o First lady has headlined more than a dozen fundraisers for her husband and the Democratic Party and has sent out a number of mass emails trying to recapture the energy that has waned since her husband's 2008 campaign.
Campaign manager Jim Messina says Mrs. Obama is a unique ambassador for her husband because of her front-row seat during his first term and her knowledge of his character. "She was an enormous asset to the president traveling the country in 2008, and we expect that she'll play just as critical a role in 2012," he said.
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