A crowd of at least 2,500 gathered at UVA’s Newcomb Hall Plaza on September 17 to attend the Women for Obama voter registration rally with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden.
Students, professors and members of City Council stood under the scorching sun, chanting “Yes we can.”
Michelle Obama’s message for equal pay for equal work resonated loud and clear with a crowd eager to hear more about the Obama-Biden ticket’s proposed solution for the current economic crisis. Obama made no direct reference to the bailouts of giants such as AIG, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, but she pounded on the need to have a president who “gets it” and who will “fight for us.”
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“Understand that Virginia is critical,” said Michelle Obama. “It’s what we call a swing state, and we want it swinging our way.” |
After UVA associate dean (and former astronaut) Kathryn C. Thornton recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Democratic candidate for the Fifth Congressional District, Tom Perriello, stirred up the crowd with talk of community service and Washington corruption. He urged those who were not yet registered to vote to do so, because, “there is a very good chance that the Commonwealth of Virginia will decide the next president of the United States of America.”
Indeed, recent polls show John McCain sightly ahead of Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama made it very clear that every vote counts.
“Understand that Virginia is critical,” she said. “It’s what we call a swing state, and we want it swinging our way.”
Councilor Holly Edwards agrees. “We are a swing state and of all places I am happy they chose Charlottesville,” she told C-VILLE. Edwards, a resident nurse, says she came because of the Obama-Biden health care platform and the historic nature of these elections.
“I am here as an African-American woman and as a member of City Council, it’s inspiring,” she said. “But the best part of this day, and I mean the best part, is bringing my daughters.” She paused. “Well, and getting to shake hands with Mrs. Obama,” she laughs.
With a sizable American flag as the backdrop, Jill Biden, wife of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, and Lilly Ledbetter presented the reality of every working woman in America. Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, women make 77 cents for every dollar men make; African-American women make only 62 cents and Latina 53 cents to the dollar, according to the AFL-CIO.
Longtime equal pay activist Ledbetter, who had publicly endorsed Barack Obama and Joe Biden earlier Wednesday at an economic roundtable in Richmond, was the only speaker who mentioned John McCain by name. Ledbetter, who worked for Goodyear Tires & Rubber for half of her life, sued the company when she realized she was getting paid less than her male co-workers. After she lost her case last year by a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court, Congress picked up her story and created a bill with her name, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which Barack Obama and Joe Biden co-sponsored.
“John McCain didn’t even show up to vote for my bill,” she said. “[He] said that women need more education and training.”
Michelle Obama spoke to the women and the students standing before her and urged them to vote for her husband, “because, women, we need an advocate in the White House right now,” she said, “someone who won’t forget us.”
Obama said she hasn’t seen any progress in the policies the current administration is advocating to reduce financial strains of the average American, but she has seen average Americans struggle to buy groceries, to put gas in their cars and to “get the mammogram we have been putting off, and we have been putting it off because we realize that our co-pay is getting higher and higher,” she said.
Obama finally urged those present to think about their future and vote for a ticket that would reflect the reality of our times. “Let’s change the world,” she said.
As Obama stepped down from the podium to shake people’s hands, people rushed to the front of the crowd to get a glimpse of the First Lady hopeful. Even after she disappeared with her security entourage, the crowd hesitated to dissipate, congregating and discussing what felt like a historical afternoon.
