First lady describes toll of job on husband

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

First lady Michelle Obama today spoke in very frank and personal terms to a Massachusetts audience as she described her conversion to a political wife, as well as the toll President Obama’s job takes on him each day.

“I see the worry creasing his face. I hear the passion and determination in his voice. ‘You won’t believe what these folks are going through;’ he told me that last night. ‘Michelle, it is not right. We’ve got to fix this. We have to do more,’” she said during a visit to Boston for a fund-raiser on behalf of the Democratic National Committee.

“Barack always reminds me that we are playing a long game,” she added, replicating her husband’s call for patience amid the country’s slow emergence from a recession. “He reminds me, as I said to you, too, that change is slow. He reminds me that change doesn’t happen all at once, but that if we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight, doing what we know is right, then eventually we will get there, because the truth is we always have in this country. We always have.”

Like her husband did a day earlier during a White House news conference, the first lady evoked the image of their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, as she tried to stir Democratic supporters.

“The truth is that no matter what happens, my girls will be OK. My girls will have plenty of advantages and opportunities in their lives. And that’s probably true for many of your kids as well,” she told a largely female audience of about 125 people gathered at the Chestnut Hill home of philanthropists and Democratic activists Elaine and Gerald Schuster.

“But I think that the last four years have shown us the truth of what Barack has always said: That if any child in this country is left behind, then that matters to all of us, even if she’s not our daughter, and even if he’s not our son. If any family in this country struggles, then we cannot be fully content with our own family’s good fortune, because that is not what we do in this country,” she said.

In opening her remarks, Mrs. Obama also described how campaigning in 2008 helped her overcome her initial fears about her husband running for president.

“I was proud of the work that he was doing in the Senate. And I thought that he would make a phenomenal president. That wasn’t the issue,” she said. “But, like a lot of folks, I still had some cynicism about politics. And with two young daughters at home, I was worried about the toll that a presidential campaign would take on our family.

“So it took some convincing on Barack’s part. And by ‘some,’ I mean a lot; he’s still paying back,” she said.

The first lady said she warmed to the decision as she began campaigning on front stoops and in back yards in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“It’s about meeting people one-on-one, hearing what’s going on in their lives,” she said.

Among those in the audience were Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts first lady Diane Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and former Boston TV anchor Liz Walker.

After leaving Boston, Mrs. Obama flew to Burlington, Vt., for two more fund-raisers.

The Boston event was expected to raise over $600,000 for the DNC, which her husband controls and is tasked with helping him win re-election. The Vermont events were expected to raise a similar sum for the committee.

Today marked the final day of fund-raising for the second quarter. Figures from all the presidential are due to be released in two weeks, which should give a gauge on not only their financial strength, but political standing.

The Schusters’ event was planned by Bryan Rafanelli, who also planned two state dinners for the Obamas, as well as the reciprocal dinner they hosted recently in London for Queen Elizabeth II.

It was held outside, under a tent erected against a backdrop of rhododendrons.

The white tent and white fabric draping the poles was enhanced by brilliant, lime-green patterned tablecloths with white leaf-like designs.

The flowers were by Winstons: peonies, hydrangeas and orchids.

The menu, by The Catered Affair, consisted of a crab stack; avocado, tomato, cucumber and mango; a salad of baby mixed lettuces; and cilantro lime vinaigrette.

Dessert was a selection of tartlets.

The first lady wore her hair up, with what appeared to be a white or cream-colored dressed with a black-fleck pattern. She wore high heels. Asked to help a reporter better describe her dress, Rafanelli said simply, “Fabulous.”

When she spoke, the towering first lady eschewed the platform that had been placed behind the microphone for Elaine Schuster’s introduction.

Yet while Schuster spoke from typed notes, the first lady used a TelePrompTer, despite the relatively small and friendly audience.