CHARLOTTE, NC – Let’s get all of the superlatives out of the way first. Michelle Obama brought down the house like Queen Latifah, she worked it like Missy Elliot and she was every woman like Whitney. You get the point, Michelle Obama’s speech last night brought tears to the eyes of many, and as someone who was in the Time Warner Arena when she spoke I can attest to the fact that folks were trying to scribble “Michelle Obama 2016” on empty placards by the time she was done. But all of that is prologue, giving good speeches is as natural to the Obamas as a mid-range jump shot and obsessive exercise. The real question is, how does the FLOTUS speech hold up compared to recent incumbent first ladies and challengers?
Smart Politics did a fascinating analysis of the speeches of first ladies and challenger wives (Challenger wives sounds like a great title for a new reality series doesn’t it?) over the last 20 years to see who made the most mention of family oriented buzzwords.
Turns out that Ann Romney’s speech last week was the second most in the last 20 years when it comes to slinging out the family zingers to rouse the crowd. Now, I’m no walking content analysis program but I figure that after last night’s tear jerk emotion, “Whatta man whatta man whatta mighty good man” fest that Michelle belted out to an audience that could barely contain their emotions that she might actually jump ahead of Romney and Hillary by the time this speech is run through the Bat computer.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
