MILWAUKEE — Michelle Obama’s East Wing staff suggested she would take it slow once she started campaigning, emphasizing her nonpolitical “mom-in-chief” role and her noncontroversial fight against childhood obesity.
Instead, the first lady made her political presence felt immediately Wednesday, delivering an impassioned and overtly religious pitch for Democrats to defend her husband’s legacy in the midterm elections.
“We got this man in office; we’re all proud of Barack and his accomplishments,” Obama told syndicated radio host Tom Joyner before embarking on a week of campaign events that will take her to Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and California on behalf of endangered Democrats.
“Everybody I know in our communities [is] praying for us,” she said, adopting a religious theme seldom used by her husband — and landing her on top of The Drudge Report, a space she occupied with some regularity two years ago.