• Michelle Obama campaigns for Hillary Clinton on Wednesday at Pitt.
Michelle Obama never used the words “Donald Trump” during her 20-minute speech Wednesday afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh’s Fitzgerald Field House. But there’s no doubt whom she was talking about.
“Being president is not anything like reality TV: It’s not an apprenticeship,” Ms. Obama said, a none-too-subtle reference to Mr. Trump’s television show, “The Apprentice.”
Before a crowd estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000, Ms. Obama repeatedly depicted the Republican nominee as unprepared for the presidency. “We need someone who will take the job seriously,” she said. “We also need someone who is steady and measured. Because when making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, the president cannot just pop off or lash out irrationally.”
Ms. Obama also bitterly criticized questions about whether President Barack Obama had been born in the United States. “This hurtful, deceitful question was deliberately designed to undermine my husband’s presidency,” she said.
No one raised those questions more publicly, for more years, than Mr. Trump. And though he recently sought to drop the issue — and to suggest it had originated with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — Ms. Obama said responsibility for it “cannot be blamed on others, cannot be swept under the rug.”
In contrast, Ms. Obama praised Ms. Clinton for her tenacity and experience.
“Experience matters. Preparation matters. Temperament matters. And Hillary Clinton has it all,” she said.
“When I hear folks saying that they don’t feel inspired in this election, I have to disagree,” she said. “We have the opportunity to elect one of the
most qualified people who have ever endeavored to become president.”
“And yes, she just happens to be a woman,” she added, to thunderous applause, after describing Ms. Clinton’s experience. “We deserve a president who can bring out what is best in us: our kindness and decency, our courage and determination, our hope.”
Ms. Obama made a pointed appeal directly to younger voters, who made up a large share of the audience Wednesday
“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but about who doesn’t vote,” she said, asserting that in 2012, the outcome in Pennsylvania was decided by an average of 17 votes per precinct. “That’s the margin of difference in every presidential election. It’s going to be close.
“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but who doesn’t vote,” she said. “And that’s especially true for younger people like you.”
She ticked off a list of issues that were at stake, including college affordability, climate change and abortion rights.
“Either Hillary Clinton or her opponent will be elected president this year,” she said, tacitly addressing disenchanted voters considering a thirdparty candidate. “And if you vote for someone other than Hillary, or if you don’t vote at all, then you are helping to elect her opponent.”
Ms. Obama’s appearance reflects her appeal among groups whose votes Ms. Clinton desperately needs: younger voters, women and African-Americans. Many in those groups are lukewarm about Ms. Clinton, and Democrats worry that they won’t turn out in the numbers Mr. Obama drew in 2012.
“I support Hillary, because what’s my alternative?” said Ashley Pinchback of Friendship, while waiting in line nearly a block from the field house entrance before the speech. But she said she was troubled by aspects of Ms. Clinton’s past, like her support of her husband’s 1990s-era tough-on-crime policies.
But Ms. Obama “is the embodiment of grace and intellect,” Ms. Pinchback added. “If she can get behind Hillary Clinton, then I can get excited about her.”
So could Geneva Oke, and several of her fellow Carnegie Mellon University classmates.
“I’m definitely more charged up,” Ms. Oke, a first-year student, said after Ms. Obama spoke. “She was saying that it’s in our hands.”
“She was so classy in how she handled Trump,” said Warda Khan, another first-year student. “She never even mentioned his name.”
“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but about who doesn’t vote. That’s the margin of difference in every presidential election. It’s going to be close . ... And that’s especially true for younger people like you.”
—Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States
Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412263-2533.