As I watched the Democratic National Convention I sat transfixed by Michelle Obama's speech.
She stood their beautifully black and real.
Gone were the pieces of paper she's stiltedly read from over recent weeks. Back came the Michelle Obama we first met when Barack Obama initially announced his candidacy.
I won't spend much time talking about what she said tonight. You can go to www.cnnpolitics.com to read a transcript of Michelle's speech.
I want to discuss Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and what it means to be a lady.
Comparing Cindy and Michelle may not be fair, especially since Michelle had her night and Cindy hasn't. But what we know so far about the women offers a striking contrast between the two.
As Michelle so eloquently put it, she's a girl from the south side of Chicago. Born to parents who had to scrimp and save and poured all that they had into their children. Michelle lavished praise on her brother, Craig Robinson, who lovingly introduced his sister to the cameras. She called him the man she's always looked up to.
Most importantly Michelle reminded America of being of service to our communities, our children, and to our world.
This woman came off as poised, personable and purposeful. I don't mean purposeful in terms of slick marketing to sell her husband. Sure she had a job to do in terms of letting people know about Barack Obama the man, but she went beyond that.
Michelle even reached out to Hillary Clinton, something the Democratic base - read most African Americans - haven't done yet. Something the Democratic base - read most African Americans - will have to do if they want to win in November.
"You treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them," Michelle Obama said during her speech before the Democratic National Convention Monday night in Colorado.
Cindy McCain came from a monied father who made his cash selling beer. He left one wife and child to marry Cindy's mom. Cindy has repeatedly said publicly that she is an only child. Only that isn't, technically, true.
Angered that her sister would rather pretend she doesn't exist than acknowledge her in the slightest way, Kathleen Hensley Portalski came forward last week to National Public Radio to say that she and her sister haven't been close in years.
Not being close is an understatement.
Cindy McCain doesn't speak to her sister. Further, Cindy (who is a billionaire) essentially gave Kathleen $10,000 and a kiss goodbye after their father died.
So much for service.
Kathleen's husband is a firefighter and a emergency medical technician who is looking for work.
He wasn't quoted, but I wonder what his response was to John McCain's claim that our economy is strong. Or what he thought about one of McCain's adviser's comments that America is full of whiners.
Anyhoo... back to what it means to be a lady.
Now I'm not saying Cindy McCain isn't a nice person or that she isn't compassionate. She very well may be. Perhaps we will get to see that side of her next week during the Republican National Convention.
I will say that the pressure is definitely on Cindy to show us a more lady-like side based on Michelle's performance tonight.
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