The All-American Family

On the campaign trail, image-making and speech-making have always gone hand in hand. But rarely is that more true than when the candidate’s spouse delivers a speech at the national party convention.

Remember the 1996 Republican National Convention; it’s not easy, because there was little from that convention or even that campaign that was terribly memorable. But if one moment stands out, it was Elizabeth Dole, the former secretary of the Labor Department and the Transportation Department and the head of the American Red Cross -- one of the most accomplished women in the United States -- walking among the delegates with a hand-held microphone and speaking about her husband, Bob Dole, “the man I love.” It made the Checkers speech look like high-minded oratory. At the 2000 Democratic convention Tipper Gore’s most stirring moment came not when she introduced her husband to the crowd but instead when he delivered a smacker to the lips that made the national press corps squeal like 14-year-olds at a high school dance.

And then last night, there was Michelle Obama’s maudlin and occasionally saccharin effort to make her husband and herself seem like an ordinary family that shares the same values as the rest of America. With so many misperceptions about her husband and so many Americans claiming that they still don’t know enough about the couple that has been on their television screens non-stop for the last year or so, Michelle Obama had her work cut out for her. In the end, she delivered a speech that was hardly stirring oratory, but from an image-making standpoint, it was an impressive performance.

It is clear that speech-making abilities in the Obama family are not restricted to Barack Obama. Michelle Obama has at times come across as harsh and, for some critics, too direct, but last night there was an emotional edge to her delivery that was palpable. At times it even seemed as though she was on the verge of tears. She was both emphatic in describing her convictions and vulnerable when talking about her responsibilities as a mother, a daughter, a wife and a citizen. That’s a difficult tightrope to walk, but Mrs. Obama pulled it off nicely.

The goal of her speech was not only to humanize the perception of her husband, but also to humanize the perception of the Obama family. In depicting the challenges her own family faced and the sacrifices her parents made for two extraordinarily accomplished children, Mrs. Obama’s story was, for lack of a better phrase, all-American. And just to make sure those lingering suspicions that Michelle Obama somehow isn’t a patriot were dead and buried, she took the opportunity to remind voters of “why I love this country.” No one ever suggested that image-making was subtle.

But of course there is a deeper subtext when an African-American stands at the top of a presidential ticket and it’s one that Mrs. Obama gently addressed. Her family was depicted as one that had struggled for all they achieved, not relying on the assistance of others. Her family’s values, like hard work and treating those around you with dignity and respect, were presented as colorblind and very much “American.”

And of course, the final image of the Obama family, with Dad on the big screen and Mom and their adorable children, Malia and Sasha, on stage, offered viewers the alluring tableau of a traditional and attractive American family. Little Sasha’s questions to her father sent the cute meter off the charts.

Each of these images, in their own way, sought to push back on the subconscious perceptions that some white people still have about African-Americans. The message was clear: “We might seem exotic; we might be African-American, but we’re just like you.”

If one of the key goals of the Democratic National Convention is to ease people’s fears about Barack Obama and ground his message of political change in basic American values, it’s hard to argue with the notion that the convention is off to a pretty good start.