A crowd of at least 2500 gathered at UVA’s Newcomb Hall Plaza this afternoon to attend the Women for Obama voter registration rally with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the wives of the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Students, professors and members of City Council stood under the unrelenting sun, chanting “Yes We Can.”
Michelle Obama’s message for equal pay for equal work for all working women resonated loud and clear with a crowd that was seemingly eager to hear 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.
After UVA’s in-house astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District Tom Perriello stirred the crowd and 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,” he said.
With a sizable American flag as the backdrop, Jill 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.
Long-time equal pay activist Ledbetter, who had publicly endorsed Barack Obama and Joe Biden earlier today at an economic roundtable in Richmond, was the only speaker who called out John McCain by name. Ledbetter, who worked for Goodyear for half her life, sued the company when she realized she was getting paid less then her male co-workers. After losing her case in the Supreme Court, Congress picked up her story and created a bill with her name. “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, we women 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 that 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 thatwould reflect the reality of our times. “Let’s go change the world,” she said.
Michelle Obama reassured anxious students that if her husband is elected, he will reduce the cost of education. Obama, just as Barack, has just finished repaying student loans. "Thanks to two best selling books," she said.
