Michelle's big moment

Via Michael Tomasky, a link to a Slate essay about some of the points Michelle Obama should cover tonight during her address in Denver.

She acknowledges that it's OK if your first impulse is to find Obama's background puzzling or even to dismiss him—because she did once, too. The idea is that you, too, will soon perceive the many ways he is wonderful; you, too, will fall for him, just as she did. She is here to walk us through the process.

The stories of the courtship of Barack and Michelle are endlessly fascinating to me, and I can't help but wonder if that could help thaw the apprehension some voters might have about a black family in the White House. At the least, there's a lot more romance and virtue to the budding relationship of the Obamas than the McCains (I won't even go into those reasons here).

Also, Tomasky makes a good point about the capacity of Americans to embrace a black First Lady: Michelle Obama has consistently outpolled Cindy McCain in terms of likability. Says Tomasky: this "is somewhat astonishing when you stop and think about it. Cindy McCain is blond, conventionally pretty and was a cheerleader for God's sakes at the University of Spoiled Children."

Though I wonder if some of this speaks, once again, to the increasing American division regarding class rather than race.

Anyhow, I'll be watching tonight. Michelle Obama has learned from a master orator in her own home, thus I think we'll be in for a treat.