House would form the foundation for who they would become. And how well we managed this experience could truly make or break them. That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight, how we urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith.
How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country.
How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is when they go low, we go high.
With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as President and First Lady because we know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls, but the children across this country, kids who tell us ‘I saw you on TV', ‘I wrote a report on you for school'.
Kids like the little Black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope and he wondered, Is my hair like yours?
… And I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be. And that's why in this election I'm with her.
You see, Hillary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only: it's about leaving something better for our kids. That's how we've always moved this country forward, by all of us coming together on behalf of our children, folks who volunteer to coach that team, to teach that Sunday school class, because they know it takes a village.
… Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.
That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.
And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, Black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.
And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.
So, look, so don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth!
And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth, a leader who is worthy of my girls' promise and all our kids' promise, a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children.
So in this election, we cannot sit back and hope that everything works out for the best. We cannot afford to be tired or frustrated or cynical. No, hear me. Between now and November, we need to do what we did eight years ago and four years ago.
We need to knock on every door, we need to get out every vote, we need to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country into electing Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America!
So let's get to work.
Thank you all and God bless.
HOW SHE DID THAT
Connect the personal to the universal
Long after we have forgotten the context of this speech or the fact that it was delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, we will remember the claim of the moral imperative — ‘when they go low, we go high'. This is the lesson Michelle Obama imparts through her words. By examining how she gets there, we can extract some meaningful lessons for aspiring speakers. Obama begins, as she often does, with reference to her family. We are invited to view her as a mother first. We are there with her when her two young girls, then only seven and ten, first took up residence in the White House.
Just like all parents, the Obamas were concerned with how to instil ethical practice and some sort of moral compass in the minds of their children. What were these two girls to do when faced with the inevitable attacks on both their parents from the opposition and from the media? Just like every other parent, Obama mused, ‘How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level.' For Obama, the answer was clear: ‘No, our motto is when they go low, we go high.' Unlike every other parent, Obama ushered her two girls through adolescence under the constant gaze of the public and the scrutiny of the media. Her approach for dealing with this, however, is universally accessible.
What might otherwise have sounded preachy, suddenly becomes the admirable and approachable insight from a ‘mom'.
Apply rhetorical flourishes
It is well known that Michelle Obama worked closely with a professional speechwriter for this and many of her other addresses. Perhaps that is why we see several classical rhetorical devices at work in this particular speech. They are all cleverly applied, and fade into the background as they should, but it can be useful for those looking to polish their craft to identify a few examples.
Repetition of a word or phrase — in this case, ‘kids'— is used several times. In the full speech (available online — see the Sources section at the end of this book), she also uses the lead-in statement ‘I want' four times, followed by ‘someone', ‘a president' (twice) and ‘a leader'. (You can see her final use of this lead-in statement in the extract provided.) This establishes a rhythm and builds towards a crescendo. Using these three variants of what Obama wants is one of several examples of tricolon — that satisfying rule of three first identified by Aristotle. (See Emmeline Pankhurst's speech in chapter 4 for more on this concept.)
Embody the delivery
Rhetoric and metaphor are useful in producing a speech as powerful as this one, but there is much more is going on here. The carefully crafted words must be artfully delivered. A great script is nothing without an equally powerful performance. What Michelle Obama achieved on this occasion was nothing short of masterful.
Her pace was perfect — a little bit fast with the slightest touch of breathlessness. This served to amplify the importance of the occasion and the gravity of the message. She achieved the often-elusive emotional resonance. We could see and hear how she felt about her content. When she picks up the personal story and returns to her daughters playing on the White House lawn, she is visibly choked up. This is the moment the audience rises to their feet and the cheering intensifies. This is oratorical alchemy.
One person in the audience, and their reaction, stands out — former President Bill Clinton. At this crucial moment, he mouths the word ‘wow' and stands to applaud. He is clearly affected by the statement and the emotion with which Mrs Obama says, ‘And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.' Now, Bill Clinton is one of the most adept practitioners of pathos I have ever observed — he has that power to inspire deep emotion. His response makes the moment significant.
If you are making a point — indeed, if you are overtly claiming the high ground — your audience needs to believe you are fully committed. Otherwise, you may be met with the scepticism of a naughty teenager getting a lecture. Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC in 2016 is a fine example of a great speech expertly delivered.
What I'm saying is don't delude