The Obama campaign put one of its most potent weapons to use in New Hampshire this week, sending First Lady Michelle Obama on the campaign trail at stops in New Hampshire. With approval ratings that are through the roof, the first lady is a very effective campaigner for her husband. She can make the case for him sometimes more forcefully than he can himself. In 2008 during his campaign against John McCain, the Obama team referred to her as “The Closer” because of her ability to get undecided voters to move into Obama’s camp.
In Manchester, she addressed a crowd of 1,500 at Southern New Hampshire University, joined by breast cancer survivor Meredith Bohn. Bohn’s presence was intended to provide a visual as Michelle Obama talked about her husband’s healthcare law.
“Remember how folks were telling Barack not to take on health care, right? Remember that? Because I do. They said, leave it for another President, another day. Just keep kicking that can down the road.” she said. “But fortunately Barack had the backs of American families, and as a result, today, millions of people in this country can finally see a doctor when they’re sick; they can get the care that they need to stay well.”
Obama himself doesn’t spend much time on the campaign trail talking about his healthcare law, probably because the poll numbers indicate that it is still somewhat unpopular among the populace—some observers think because the White House has done such a poor job of educating the country about what’s actually in the law.
The first lady ran through a list of the president’s accomplishments during his first term in addition to the healthcare law, such as tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses, the doubling of Pell grants to help reduce student debt, financial assistance for the auto industry and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
