Michelle Can Be Obama's Best Weapon in Health Debate

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2009 4:05 PM CDT
Michelle Can Be Obama's Best Weapon in Health Debate
First lady Michelle Obama.   (AP Photo)

The president appears oblivious to the pocket ace he’s holding on health-care reform, Josh Skolnick writes on the Stimulist: Michelle Obama. Here’s why the first lady should be injected into the debate:

  • Experience: At the University of Chicago, "her whole job was explaining medical decisions and health care bureaucracy to a wider audience. Might be just a little relevant to her effectiveness as a health care spokeswoman, no?"

  • A story: Michelle's father had multiple sclerosis, and was lucky enough to get coverage from his public job. Still, Skolnick writes: "If he were fired, would a lot of insurance companies have rushed to provide Michelle’s hardworking dad with affordable health care, or even covered him at all? You know the answer. So should the American people."
  • Stage presence: "It’s not like she can’t stump—on the campaign trail she was known as 'the closer,'" Skolnick writes. Sit her down with Larry King or the View and "watch her win over a wider audience."
  • A woman: "The men have weighed in, and essentially taken the conversation out back," Skolnick writes. Not only will a healthy dose of Michelle's Midwestern wiles "neutralize the hostile rhetoric we’ve heard so far;" but "let’s see if the GOP henchman are dumb enough to attack the president’s wife the way they’ve attacked congressmen."
(More Michelle Obama stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X