Mitch Perry
Michelle Obama went on Tampa hip-hop station 95.7 The Beat Tuesday afternoon, where she encouraged listeners to go to the polls to vote for Hillary Clinton.
“We need people to be as enthusiastic as they were for Barack in this election, because the stakes are just as high, probably higher because of who her opponent is, and what he stands for, or doesn’t stand for, on so many different levels, and that’s one reason why we’ve been working so hard for Hillary,” the first lady told DJ Anjali “Queen B.”
Michelle Obama’s appearance on 95.7 follows previous appearances in recent weeks on the same program show as both President Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and showed the urgency the Democrats are putting in getting out the black vote in Florida. Early voting amongst African-Americans has been lower in the early voting than in 2008 or 2012 in Florida, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering Obama was on the ticket.
Mrs. Obama went on to boast about her husband’s record, and why Clinton needed to be elected to keep up his work.
“There’s still criminal justice reform,” she said. “We need commonsense gun regulation. We need commonsense immigration reform. All of that was stuff that couldn’t be done with a Congress who had an agenda to obstruct everything that this president was trying to do.”
She went on to talk extensively about the importance of combating climate change in Florida, and how Donald Trump doesn’t believe in it (without mentioning his name).
Mrs. Obama emphasized the personal touch, saying it wasn’t just because Clinton was the Democratic candidate for president that she’s backing her. No, she said, it’s because she is the right person for the job right now.
“We know her. We know her family. We know her values. We know her work ethic. We know her intellect,” Obama said. “So I’m passionate not because she will be the first woman president, which is historic in and of itself, but she is probably one of the most prepared people to seek the office of president, in our lifetime.”
“So the notion that we wouldn’t get this done in the face of who her opponent is? That’s nuts,” she added.
Michelle Obama has arguably become the most effective surrogate for Clinton on the campaign trail. Dubbed “The Closer” in the New York Times over the weekend, she has given two of the strongest speeches on behalf of Clinton this year. One was her address on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the other a stirring takedown of Trump, days after his lewd remarks about women from a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video went global.
You can hear the entire interview here.
