First Lady Michelle Obama gave a rousing and emotional appeal to Democrats on the opening night of their nominating convention by laying out the choice in November in stark terms: Who do you want to mold the next generation? "I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility," Obama said. "There is only one person who is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton."
"How we urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith. How we insist that this hateful language they hear form public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully you don't stoop to their level. No, our moto is: when they go low, we go high. "With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We, as parents, are the most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as President and First Lady, because we know that our words and actions matter. Not just to our girls, but to children all across this country. Kids who tell us, 'I saw you on TV. I wrote a report on you for school.' "Kids like the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope, and he wondered: is my hair like yours? And make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls: that is what we're deciding. Not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, in this election and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives."
"....Leaders like Hillary Clinton who has the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. "That is the story of this country. the story that has brought me to this stage tonight. The stories of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done, so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. "And I watched my daughters. two beautiful intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn and because of Hillary Clinton my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth."