Michelle Obama leads plaudits for husband at Democrat convention

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama offers "new hope" for America and would make an "extraordinary president", his wife and party leaders said today.

Michelle Obama used stories from her personal life to emphasise her husband's American values and that he understood what the United States needs – despite his exotic-sounding name.

US Senator Edward Kennedy, the sole surviving son of America's most celebrated political dynasty, said the 47-year-old Illinois senator offered "new hope" and that America would "scale the heights" again under Mr Obama's leadership.

Liberal heavyweight Mr Kennedy, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in May, said "nothing, nothing" was going to keep him away from the convention.

But the opening night of the Democratic National Convention lacked any serious criticism of President George Bush or Mr Obama's Republican rival John McCain.

Instead, it was a relatively soft introduction to Mr Obama, his life, his values, and the aims for his presidency.

In a prime-time television address, carried live by the US networks, Mrs Obama, 44, said she believed her husband would be "an extraordinary president".

She used her most high profile speech of the campaign to date to expose details of Mr Obama's personal story to a wider audience and to introduce the man she married to America.

"What struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, and even though he had grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine," she said.

Mrs Obama recalled her husband carefully driving her home from the hospital after the birth of her first daughter, Malia, and that he was determined to give her "something he never had, the affirming embrace of a father's love".

Both Malia, 10 and Sasha, seven, joined their mother on the stage at the end of her speech.

Mrs Obama emphasised that her husband, who has struggled to attract support from working class Americans, was raised by working class grandparents; she told voters who are focused on the troubled US economy that his family had struggled to pay the bills; and she said that their families had the same values, a belief in truth and honesty, and that "you can make it if you try".

To loud applause from the delegates, Mrs Obama also praised her husband's former rival Hillary Clinton for putting "those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so that our daughters and our sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher".

Mrs Obama said her husband was running for president to end the war in Iraq responsibly, to build an economy that helps every family, and to make sure that healthcare was available to every American.

"The world as it is just won't do, that we have an obligation to fight for a world as it should be and that is the thread that connects our hearts," she said.

"That is the thread that runs through my journey, and Barack's journey, and so many other improbably journeys that have brought us here tonight where the current of history meets this new tide of hope."

To a standing ovation, she went on: "And, you see, that is why I love this country."

Mrs Obama was criticised in February this year when, during a comment on her husband's candidacy, she said that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country".

Later, Mr Obama, appearing via video link from Kansas City, Missouri, spoke to his wife and daughters on the stage, with both girls saying: "I love you, Daddy".

Earlier, more than 4,000 delegates raised the roof of the Pepsi Centre in Denver, Colorado, as they waved blue and white "Kennedy" signs during an emotional standing ovation for the 76-year-old Massachusetts senator.

Mr Kennedy, who was not scheduled to make a speech due to his ill health, said: "I have come here tonight to stand with you, to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama President of the United States."

With his left hand bandaged, and his right hand shaking, many observers said it was adrenalin which enabled Mr Kennedy to make his speech after he travelled to Denver reportedly against the advice of his doctors and his wife.

Following an emotional video tribute, which saw many of the delegates in tears, Mr Kennedy went on: "Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race and gender, of group against group, and of straight against gay.

"And Barack Obama will be a commander-in-chief who understands that young Americans in uniform must never be committed to a mistake but always to a mission worthy of their bravery."

It was the first key moment on the first day of the four-day long convention.

"We are all Americans," Mr Kennedy said.

"This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it; I've seen it; I've lived it; and we can do it again."

He said it would mean "victory for our party and renewal for our nation" and added: "This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama, and for you, and for me, our country will be committed to his cause.

"The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

Mr Kennedy, who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland and is the second most senior member of the Senate, also pledged that he would still be there next January, when the next president takes office.

Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted to reporters that the Democrats were still reconciling following a bitter primary season battle between Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton.

But she added that "wallowing in all of this" was not productive.
Her comments came after Mr Obama played down divisions with former president Bill Clinton and the first lady yesterday.

"I am absolutely convinced that both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton understand the stakes," he told reporters in Moline, Illinois.

Mrs Clinton will deliver her own speech at the convention late tonight before she is expected to formally release her hard-won primary delegates to Mr Obama at a reception tomorrow.