there have been a lot of reports she sort of crafted this speech. absolutely. herself with help from speech writers, give us the back story. michele is always one who prepares so she s been thinking about it for a while, thinking about it over the course of the last four years. i think she had an opportunity to put it all down on a piece of paper and she did agonize over every word because she wanted it to be truthful and honest and speak from the heart and she was hoping it would resonate with everyone and i think it did. what did you think? i thought it was an exceptional piece of old-fashioned political oratory. what conventions used to be about having those kind of moments. what s striking to me, both here and in tampa the new face of american politics. you have an african-american woman, went to ivy league schools, coming back, talking about her african-american husband, the president of the united states, introduced by a hispanic mayor from san antonio. last week, we
him. one thing i wrote this piece, meaning you to deal with deficit reduction first, even if you want to do new spending, i a-listnd last night, i agreed michele obama and the young mayor from san antonio spoke to the base in a serious job. clinton s job will be to, woo back independents and white working class men in this country. what country works, joe you re spot on, the president will have to make spending cuts first before the country will embrace and republicans will embrace new spending which is why i ve said for a long time, had the president embraced simpson-bowles early on or something similar, we would be in a very different race right now in the country and i think would be more in tune and aligned with the president than today. we have to go to break, quickly john. the notion that a lot of republicans argue that barack obama if he wins re-election will govern further from the left is the furthest thing from true. i don t say that because out of some idealistic sense.
they re not. that i think there was a lot of back and forth and we can have that debate but the reality is, i think, you know, that water splashes on everyone and both sides at this point which is part of the frustration of the country, is to see our leadership so far apart when the crises that we face in our homes and in our communities like the black community, is so close and personal to us. you know, michael, i ll tell you a quick story. when the president was first elected to the senate, senator lugar invited him on a trip to russia. and i can remember he called me and said i can t believe senator lugar is inviting know go to russia and learn about loose nukes. where s senator lugar now? he lost. the republican party keeps punishing their members who do reach out and who do work together and so i think there has to be a wake-up call to say, get back together, have an inclusive effort, do the business of our country. we have a lot of problems in this country. serious problems.
as i said before, the emphasis and the first lady s speech and many other speeches, was get out there, we got to fight, this is going to be a battle, we got to get together and organize. they know they need to energize their troops. republicans are ready. they may not be in love with mitt romney, but they re ready to fight for fill in the blank, the country, you know, the constitution, there are things driving them. michele last night really sort of centered that focus around the president. it s not spread out. it s not whatever you want it to be. the focus was on president obama and that s a different kind of energy than one that s dissipated across a number of issues or ideologies within a particular party. she touched on key themes that would appeal to a lot of people, even those who are hurting today in america. and was able to connect them with her story and that of her husband s and al, was it that connection that was made so effectively? in some ways you ve covered how
attention is being paid to white males in which governor romney, according to all the polls, has a considerable lead. my guess is a lot are members of your unions of one kind or another. why is that? well, let me i ll answer that. in the last election, president obama lost white males, noneducated white males but among union educated males we won by about 20%. that s almost a 40% gap us a we re able to talk to them give the facts, the economics of everything and when they see the facts in front of them they make the right decision for themselves. unfortunately, they don t get all that stuff. we re not able to talk to nonunion workers until this time. this time we will be able to talk to nonunion workers and be reaching out to them, giving them the education, giving them the facts that they want, addressing the issues that they want and i think we ll have a difference. what s your take on the fact that union membership is decreasing, it s not increasing,