[B]eing the President is about one thing and one thing only – it's about leaving something better for our kids. That's how we've always moved this country forward – by all of us coming together on behalf of our children – folks who volunteer to coach that team, to teach that Sunday school class because they know it takes a village. Heroes of every color and creed who wear the uniform and risk their lives to keep passing down those blessings of liberty. Police officers and protestors in Dallas who all desperately want to keep our children safe. People who lined up in Orlando to donate blood because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club.
That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping 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. 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. So 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.
People will be talking about Michelle Obama’s speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention for a long, long time.
In fact, Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist, on MSNBC said: “Michelle Obama’s speech tonight was so brilliant we might hear it again at the next Republican convention.”
But wry smiles and a wink to Melania Trump’s borrowed words from Mrs. Obama’s 2008 convention speech aside, the first lady’s heartfelt and heart-thumping words about the America everyone loves and wants could not have been more perfect for the day – or for our time.