Michelle Obama, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro kick off DNC Day 1 with a bang

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Democrats kicked off Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention, launching the re-election of President Obama ahead of the 2012 election, and convincing voters why they are ‘better off.’

The night was capped by a rousing speech from First Lady Michelle Obama who urged voters to give President Barack Obama another four years to fix the country. “Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it,” Obama said, “and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we love.”

Speakers also included San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, Md. Gov. Martin O’Malley, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and actor and former Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Kal Penn.

Michelle Obama says change takes time, urges another term
Steve Holland | Reuters
12:37 a.m. EDT, September 5, 2012

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) – First lady Michelle Obama acknowledged on Tuesday that the change her husband Barack Obama championed in his White House campaign four years ago has proven difficult but urged voters to give him four more years to fix the struggling U.S. economy.

“He reminds me that we are playing a long game here, and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once,” she told the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. “But eventually we get there. We always do.”

The popular first lady was the highest-profile advocate for her husband in the first of three days of speeches that will conclude with Obama’s address on Thursday to accept the Democratic presidential nomination to face Mitt Romney on November 6.

In a race that is too close to call nine weeks before Americans vote, Obama is vulnerable to the challenge from Republican nominee Romney due to a sluggish economy and 8.3 percent unemployment.
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TRANSCRIPT: Michelle Obama’s remarks