- Michelle Obama released a new book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.”
- She recalled how one teleprompter broke and the other was blocked by signs for her 2008 DNC speech.
- Fortunately, he had prepared himself by memorizing his entire 16-minute speech.
Michelle Obama overcame a mishap with the teleprompter during her first major live televised speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, he writes in his new book.
The former first lady remembers in “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times” that when her brother, Craig Robinson, hugged her after presenting his address, he told her, “The left pointer is OUT.”
Looking around the arena, Obama noticed that while the teleprompter on the right side of the stage was working properly, the screen on the left teleprompter was blank.
He also noticed another problem. The “trusted monitor” containing the text of her speech in the center of the arena was also unreadable, blocked by vertical “Michelle” banners that the Democratic Party had distributed to audience members.
“I was standing there on live TV, knowing I was supposed to talk for 16 straight minutes,” she wrote. “There was no pause in the show or a call for help. For a second, I felt terribly alone, and terribly exposed as well.”
Michelle Obama speaks at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She writes that the vertical “Michelle” signs created a “huge swaying fence” that blocked words on the trusted monitor.
STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images
Fortunately, Obama was prepared. He had spent weeks rehearsing the speech until he had it completely memorized.
“In that vulnerable and exposed moment, I had one last form of protection: I had done the fire drill,” he wrote, referring to how Craig used to have his family hold fire drills growing up in their Chicago apartment. “I could stop worrying about everything that was broken and blocked and trust what was in my head and also in my heart. It turned out that I had what I needed, even with frantic nerves and tens of thousands of people watching, even with a broken teleprompter and a trusted monitor obscured by a sea of fluttering signals. I spoke for the next 16 minutes without missing a word.”
In the speech, Obama spoke about her family and upbringing, how she met her husband and how she was moved by their shared values.
“Barack and I grew up with many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them,” he said in his speech. “And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children, and every child in this nation, to know that the only limit to the height of their achievement is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
In 2016, Melania Trump appeared to lift parts of Obama’s 2008 speech for her speech on the first night of the Republican National Convention, Insider’s Pamela Engel reported. The Trump campaign defended Melania’s speech, but a Trump Organization writer, Meredith McIver later said he had inadvertently used phrases from Michelle Obama’s speech.
