Michelle Obama's military strategy

Talking to Norfolk servicemen's wives, the potential first lady hopes to prove her empathy -- and the corrosiveness of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- in a battleground state's most contested area.

NORFOLK, Va. -- Amanda McBreen's 82-year-old father is a World War II veteran who's in danger of losing his house to pay for long-term care. Her 80-year-old mother-in-law is in the hospital with a broken leg. McBreen is house-hunting in Norfolk, Va., while her Marine Corps husband meets with his superiors at the Joint Central Command to get details on what may be his ninth military deployment. Where? They don't know yet. That's part of the problem.

"I have three children, a cat, a hamster. And I may have two parents moving in with us. It's not likely to work this way."

Smoothing her hands over her brightly colored miniskirt, McBreen sits on a small stage with a handful of other military wives, some local political leaders, more than 50 television, print, Internet and radio reporters -- and Michelle Obama.

The wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is holding a round table here at Old Dominion University -- in the heart of conservative America, just down the road from the world's largest U.S. Navy base, in a state that last supported a Democrat for president in 1964. But this year, Virginia may be up for grabs, and the Democrats are pushing hard.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/08/08/michelle_obama/

:patriot:

I would love to meet her.

Not happy about the title, not happy about the constant references to the "hand-picked audience". But even more than the media coverage, which she deserves, I hope that the tour itself is a success.

Ebony just did a very strong article on her, and her mother, who retired to take care of the girls while their parents are on the road.

Now THAT is a STRONG family.