DALE CITY, Va. — First lady Michelle Obama made her first solo public campaign appearance on behalf of her husband Thursday, traveling to Northern Virginia to tout the president’s commitment to women’s rights in one of the most pivotal areas of a state certain to help decide who wins the White House in November.
Speaking to about 750 supporters at a veterans post in Prince William County, Obama tiptoed around volatile policy debates and instead championed her blue-collar roots and the president’s commitment to protecting middle-class “basic American values.”
The one political lightning rod Obama did raise was women’s health issues, a topic the White House is trying to use to undercut Republicans’ support among female voters. Democrats have used insurance coverage for contraceptives, equal pay and domestic violence legislation, among other initiatives, to claim Republicans are waging a “war on women.”
“For Barack, protecting women’s health is a mission that has nothing to do with politics,” the first lady said. “It’s about ensuring that women have the screenings we need to stay healthy and the health care we need when we are sick, and it’s about ensuring that women can make basic health decisions for ourselves. Plain and simple.”
Those remarks drew the loudest applause from a partisan crowd in a state where the Republican-controlled General Assembly earlier this year approved legislation requiring women to undergo an ultrasound examination before getting an abortion.
Still, while Thursday’s outing was billed as the first lady’s first public campaign event — she’s been limited to private fundraisers until now — Obama made no mention of Republicans or her husband’s presumptive fall challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
“Every White House has a tough choice in how to use the first lady, as inevitably they are more popular than the president,” said Jeremy Mayer, a political scientist at George Mason University. “You don’t want her to appear partisan. [Her remarks Thursday] make sense in a battleground like Prince William County.”
The first lady’s visit underscored the importance of Virginia in her husband’s re-election strategy. The president himself kicked off his re-election effort last month in Richmond.
Read More at Washington Examiner
