| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Transcript of Michelle Obama's remarks |
| 2009-10-03 |
| I was born and raised on Chicago's South Side, not far from where the Games would open and close. Ours was a neighborhood of working families, families with modest homes and strong values. Sports were what brought our community together. They strengthened our ties to one another. Growing up, when I played games with the kids in my neighborhood, we picked sides based not on who you were, but what you could bring to the game. Sports taught me self-confidence, teamwork and how to compete as an equal. Sports were a gift I shared with my dad, especially the Olympic Games. Some of my best memories are sitting on my dad's lap cheering on Olga and Nadia, Carl Lewis and others for their brilliant perfection. Wouldn't she have been like 20??? Sitting on your dad's lap at that is a bit creepy. Like so many young people, I was inspired. I found myself dreaming that maybe just maybe, if I worked hard enough, I too could achieve something great. But I never dreamed that the Olympic flame might someday light up lives in my neighborhood. But today I can dream, and I am dreaming of an Olympic and Paralympic Games in Chicago that will light up lives and neighborhoods all across America and all across the world, that will expose all our neighborhoods to new sports and new role models, that will show every child that regardless of wealth or gender or race or physical ability, there is a sport and a place for them too. That's why I'm here today. I'm asking you to choose Chicago, I'm asking you to choose America. I'm not asking just as the First Lady of the United States, who is eager to welcome the world to our shores -- and not just as a Chicagoan, who is proud and excited to show the world what my city can do, not just as a mother raising two beautiful young women to embrace athleticism and embrace their full potential, I'm also asking as a daughter. See, my dad would have been so proud to witness these Games in Chicago. I know they would have meant something much more to him too. You see, in dad's early 30s, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As he got sicker, it became harder for him to walk let alone play his favorite sports. But my dad was determined that sports continue to be a vital lifeline, not just to the rest of the world, but to me and my brother. And even as we watched my dad struggle to hold himself up on crutches, he never stopped playing with us, and he refused to let us take our abilites for granted. He believed that his little girl should be taught no less than his son. So he taught me how to throw a ball and a mean right hook better than any boy in my neighborhood. More importantly, my dad taught us the fundamental rules of the game, rules that continue to guide our lives today -- to engage with honor, with dignity and fair play. My dad was my hero, and when I think of what these Games can mean to people all over the world, I think about people like my dad, people who face seemingly insurmountable challenges but never let go. They work a little harder, but they never give up. Now my dad didn't live to see the day that the Paralympic Games became the force that they are today, but if he had lived to see this day, if he could have seen the Paralympic Games share a global stage with the Olympic Games, if he could have witnessed athletes who can excel and prove that nothing is more powerful than the human spirit, I know it would have restored in him the same spirit of unbridled possibilities as he instilled in me. Chicago's bid for the Olympic and paralympic movement is about so much more than what we can offer the games, it's about what games can offer all of us, it's about inspiring this generation and building lasting legacy for the next. It's about our responsibility as Americans, not just to put on great games, but to use these games as a vehicleto bring us together, to usher in a new era of international engagement, to give us hope and to change lives all over the world. And II brought somebody with me today who knows a little something about change, my husband, the president of the United States, Barack Obama |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #17 Michelle Malkin has a Who's Who on the Chicago Olympic beneficiaries. Lots of friends and donors of Barack and Michelle. An illustrated guide: All the presidentÂ’s Olympic cronies. I weep For The Children. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-10-03 16:25 |
| #16 There was something rotten in Denmark--and now it's back in America |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-10-03 16:14 |
| #15 The one thing that Michelle did not mention in her sports virtue monologue is that, despite your very best efforts, sometimes you face defeat. How you deal with that defeat, and have the experience become an asset to you is what sets you off from the rest. It seems that neither she nor her brilliant, all-knowing, all encompassing, god-like husband did not learn this fundamental tenant or ideal of sports. They also did not learn about fair play and honor in competing for this olympic slot. They should have congratulated Rio on their win and wish them well. All talk and no walk. Holy hubris, Batman. |
| Posted by: Al-Aska Paul, Resident Imam 2009-10-03 15:28 |
| #14 Me Me Me I I I Hum Hum Hum |
| Posted by: Sherry 2009-10-03 15:22 |
| #13 Don't forget that original admission to Harvard Isn't Affirmative Action Great? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-10-03 15:02 |
| #12 More importantly, my dad taught us the fundamental rules of the game, rules that continue to guide our lives today -- to engage with honor, with dignity and fair play. Bet that's how she got her 'hospital job'. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-10-03 14:39 |
| #11 We've got serious contenders for Snark of the Day here. She should have pitched this story on Oprah. There wouldn't have been a dry eye in the house. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-10-03 13:21 |
| #10 I=15 my=11 me=4 |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-10-03 12:40 |
| #9 you think she'd invoke Tommy Smith's & John Carlos' "black power fists"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-10-03 12:07 |
| #8 I'm inclined to give her a half-pass on the daddy's lap thing - I bet she was remembering Tommy Smith & John Carlos in the 1968 Olympics and getting John Carlos' name mixed up with Carl Lewis. At age 4 or so sitting on Dad's lap would be quite reasonable. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-10-03 12:00 |
| #7 Does anyone really care what Mrs. Obama thinks or says??? |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-10-03 11:39 |
| #6 Wouldn't she have been like 20??? Sitting on your dad's lap at that is a bit creepy. Ugh. Creepy is an understatement. |
| Posted by: Woozle Uneter9007 2009-10-03 11:31 |
| #5 yep - she was 20, doing lap dances for Dad |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-10-03 11:30 |
| #4 Interesting pitch. Most successful salespoeple try to explain how choosing their product will benefit the customer. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-10-03 11:13 |
| #3 I'm sure she'd be happy if Chitown held the Special Olympics. Her criminal cohorts won't get rich, but that's not why they were going for it, right? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-10-03 11:02 |
| #2 ....I found myself dreaming that maybe just maybe, if I worked hard enough, Unfortunately that is all he ever has done, "dream" about work. |
| Posted by: Besoeker in Duitsland 2009-10-03 10:15 |
| #1 But today I can dream Most of your countrymen also dream---they dream its 2012 already. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-03 09:55 |