WASHINGTON: Underlining the historic nature of her husband’s presidency, US First Lady Michelle Obama reminded Americans on Monday night how a black couple and their children lived for eight years in a house built by black slaves for their White masters, thanks to their votes.

“The story of generations of people who have felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” she said.

Addressing the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday, Mrs Obama told American voters now that her husband’s final term was ending, it’s the time for them elect the nation’s first woman president.

Her voice cracking with emotion, she declared: “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.”

Immediately after her address, the US media and political pundits predicted that her speech may enter textbooks for the message of hope it conveyed and for the poise and grace of her delivery.

The speech will be “replayed, quoted, and anthologised for years,” wrote a prestigious US magazine The Atlantic.

By Tuesday afternoon, the speech’s video had already been watched millions of times across the globe, persuading The Atlantic to declare: “It was as pure a piece of political oratory as this campaign has offered, and instantly entered the pantheon of great convention speeches.”

The Los Angeles Times called the speech “stunning,” noting that it brought many to tears and highlighted “the historic nature” of her husband’s presidency.

“It’s Hillary Clinton’s convention, and it was Bernie Sanders’s big night. But the unquestioned star of the programme on Monday was Mrs Obama,” The New York Times noted.

In her 15-minute address, the first black First Lady of the United States drew cheers, left some delegates openly weeping and fired up the party for November’s presidential election.

Mrs Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, himself an accomplished speaker, was in the audience and was caught on camera mouthing the word “wow” as Michelle Obama spoke.

“Incredible speech by an incredible woman,” tweeted Michelle’s husband and the outgoing president, Barack Obama.

And Mrs Clinton simply tweeted the First Lady’s remarks: “Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters...can take it for granted that a woman can be president.”

CNN noted that Michelle Obama cast the presidential race as one between a positive role model for children — in Hillary Clinton — and a damaging one — in Donald Trump.

Taking aim at the Republican nominee, but without ever naming him, the First Lady pointed out how he was unsuited to replace her husband at the White House because of his temperament.

“The issues a president faces are not black and white, and cannot be boiled down into 140 characters,” the first lady said. “Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or the tendency to lash out.”

She also criticised Mr Trump for saying that he would make America great.

“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth,” she said, enthusiastically endorsing Mrs Clinton for president.

As the convention opened, frustrated Bernie Sanders supporters booed speakers and chanted over them, irked by media reports that the party establishment never wanted him to be their official candidate.

Even a popular comedian, and Democratic campaigner Sarah Silverman was booed and was forced to the “Bernie or bust” crowd they were “being ridiculous.”

But the atmosphere changed as Mrs Obama stepped up to the podium and brought the audience to their feet with her speech.

She said how during their eight years in the White House, President Obama and she explained to their children, “when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you do not stoop to their level. Our motto is when they go low, you go high.”

She added, “We urge [our daughters] to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith.”

She said she was supporting Mrs Clinton because she wanted “someone with the proven strength to persevere.”

She said what she admired most about Hillary Clinton was that “she never buckles under pressure; she never takes the easy way out. Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.”

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016