Michelle ObamaI couldn't finish the convention coverage last night - backups kicked in on the server and I couldn't get enough disk bandwidth on it to post successfully.  This will be brief as I'm almost out of battery power.

I thought Michelle Obama's speech last night was critical.  We saw a strong, poised, and powerful woman, who at the same time was someone that anyone who's had a tough time in part of their life could relate to.  I think this is exactly what the Obama team needs, and I think it will be much more difficult after last night's family appearance (including the girls) for anyone to continue to paint the family as elitist.  I think the emotional reaction of the crowd spoke for itself.  We have an opportunity to elect a president that understands what it is to face adversity and move forward.  It's important to take back the presidency and improve our standing in Congress.  Then it is important for us to continue to hold all of those elected Democrats to the real change and progressive values that they have promised. But that's next week's rant. For right now I just want to be happy that this might happen at all.

There are many reasons to oppose Obama, whose paltry legislative record disqualifies him for the Presidency.  That he would cite state legislative experience during a Presidential campaign as a qualification already reveals to this voter how underprepared he is for the Presidency.

But the real reason I oppose him is his wife's deep connections to WAL-MART.  Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times published an article about this highly controversial connection in May.  http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/05/sweet_column_michelle_obama_qu.h... According to Sweet, Michelle Obama is no longer connected to the company.  But this was not a decision Michelle Obama made on her own volition; following the lead of her husband's vague campaign, Michelle Obama quit the company that ties her deeply to WAL-MART.  According to Lynn Sweet,

Michelle Obama resigned Tuesday from the board of TreeHouse Foods Inc., a Wal-Mart vendor, eight days after husband and White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would not shop at the anti-union store.

I guess Obama's attempt to pander to AFL-CIO union voers in Trenton, NJ, created a conflict with one of the Obama family's sources of income.