Michelle Obama calls for another 4 years

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina

First lady Obama kicks off the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She urges Democrats to rally around the president during the presidential race. AP photo

First lady Michelle Obama acknowledged that the change her husband Barack Obama championed in his White House campaign four years ago has proven difficult but urged voters to give him four more years to fix the struggling U.S. economy.

First Lady kick-started the Democrats’ 2012 convention with a prime-time address in Charlotte, North Carolina. “When people ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, I can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago,” she said.

Michelle Obama was the highest-profile advocate for her husband in the first of three days of speeches that will conclude with Obama’s address today to accept the Democratic presidential nomination to face Mitt Romney on Nov. 6.

“He reminds me that we are playing a long game here, and that change is hard and slow, and it never happens all at once,” Reuters quoted her as saying. “But eventually we get there. We always do.”
Polls show Obama and Romney locked in a tight race ahead of the November vote. While Obama is seen as more likable and better able to connect with middle-class Americans, Romney is seen as the better candidate for improving the economy, the biggest issue in the race.

Favored among women

Without ever mentioning her husband’s rival by name, Michelle Obama took aim at Republican claims that Romney would carry over his success in business to the presidency. “For Barack, success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the differences you make in people’s lives,” she said.
Michelle Obama earns higher favorability ratings than her husband, Romney, his wife, Ann, or either candidate for the vice presidency, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll. And views of Mrs. Obama tilt favorably among independents and women, two focal points in her husband’s campaign for re-election.