1,000 show up to see Obama’s wife in Las Cruces

Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, tried to win over undecideds during a speech on Monday evening in Las Cruces by saying her husband’s character is what sets him apart.

Pointing out that her husband was the editor of the Harvard Law Review, Obama said that made him the top law student at the top law school in the nation. He could have chosen to become a high-power lawyer on Wall Street, she said, but he instead moved after he graduated to Chicago to work for a small constitutional law firm that defended peoples’ voting rights.

Obama told the group that her husband worked before attending law school as a community organizer in tough Chicago neighborhoods.

“There is nobody else in this race who has made that kind of decision to work with people on the ground,” she said. “… In every decision he has made in his life, he has chosen principle over power.”

Obama spoke to an animated crowd of about 1,000 people in the Corbett Center Ballroom at New Mexico State University. She was the most high-profile figure to visit Las Cruces in advance of today’s Democratic presidential caucus.

Before Obama took the stage, her husband received a previously unannounced endorsement from Delano Lewis, the former head of National Public Radio and ambassador to South Africa. He now lives in Las Cruces.

“I’m convinced that we need to get about solving the problems in America, and not partisanship,” a boisterous Lewis told the crowd. “This is the one candidate who can reach across party lines and bring us together as one.”

Those in attendance responded enthusiastically to calls from Lewis and others to support Barack Obama. His wife engaged the crowd, eliciting laughter, cheers and applause throughout her speech as she attempted to convince undecided voters to back her husband.

A call to empathy, understanding and compromise

Michelle Obama said her husband was once considered the underdog in the presidential race – who many doubted could keep up with the fundraising or organization of Hillary Clinton – but he has surprised many and gained traction by running a campaign based on what he believes Americans need to hear, not what he thinks they want to hear.

Obama spoke at length about the problems in America and the difficulties many face in making ends meet.

“It is very easy to feel cynical and depressed and like nothing can change,” Obama said. “When you are struggling and you can’t catch up, it is easy to be manipulated by fear.”

Fear breeds cynicism, clouds judgment and separates people, Obama said. Her husband’s challenge to Americans is to put aside that cynicism, replacing it with hope that Americans can change the way Washington does business and improve life in America – if they’ll work together.

America has plenty of good policy ideas and the resources to implement them, Obama said, so a lack of ideas and resources isn’t the reason life in America isn’t improving for most people.

The problem, Obama said, is that America lacks empathy.

“It is about caring for one another. We have a hole in our soul,” she said. “… If we can’t fix that hole in our souls, then we will not be able to fix these problems.”

Obama said Americans must quit fearing those who are different and interact. Getting to know each other will lead to empathy, understanding and compromise on serious and complex issues. That will help solve problems and vastly improve the lives of Americans, she said.

“So there are two choices: The first is the same old thing and the same old people who do the same old thing that hasn’t worked,” she said. “The second choice is Barack Obama.”

‘He’s going to demand that you change’

Addressing criticism that her husband isn’t experienced enough to be president, Obama said he has more legislative experience than Clinton because he served eight years in the Illinois state Legislature before being elected to the U.S. Senate. She said the question isn’t whether her husband is ready to lead – it’s whether Americans are ready to change.

“He’s going to demand that you change. It’s not going to be easy,” Obama said. “… The world is watching us and they want to believe in the America they dreamed of. They desperately want to know it exists. If we can do this, we can potentially change the world.”

The visit was part of a sprint Obama is making across many of the states whose Democrats vote today. New Mexico was the fourth state she visited on Monday. The Obama campaign said she will be in five states today.

If you’re a registered Democrat, polls are open today across New Mexico from noon to 7 p.m. To find your polling place, click here. To vote, you must have been registered as a Democrat by Jan. 4.

Here are a couple more photos of Obama: