Michelle Obama is the real deal

Have you seen Michelle Obama's recent interviews? She's so solid and good.

I think that's what people recognize in the Obamas: their basic solid goodness. There's the ersatz, religiony, test-marketed "goodness," then there's the kind you can see if you've got eyes.

I was reading an article in Newsweek, a long bio of Michelle Obama. Several things stuck out, like:

Though she has no official policy role in the campaign, she has been deployed to speak directly to the fears of black audiences in a way that Barack often does not. Earlier this year, Obama staffers worried that some African-American voters might still be reluctant to believe that a black man could really be elected president. Michelle went down to South Carolina to try to put them at ease. As she reviewed her speech on the plane ride to one event, a story came to mind. She thought of African-Americans she had known who had saved for new furniture, only to wrap it in plastic to protect it. But in the end, doing so was self-defeating. "That plastic gets yellow and scratches up your leg," she told the audience. "I think folks just want to protect us from the possibility of being let down … by the world as it is. A world, they fear, is not ready for a decent man like Barack. Sometimes it seems better not to try at all than to try and fail." She urged them to take the risk.

We're all a bit worried on that point, and it's good to hear Michelle Obama tell us why fear isn't an option. Take the risk, but don't take any risks.