Michelle Obama gets emotional in remarks to London Girls School

jefferson_dem

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Thu Apr-02-09 12:15 PM
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Michelle Obama gets emotional in remarks to London Girls School

Edited on Thu Apr-02-09 12:18 PM by jefferson_dem

Pool Report of Obama's Visit to London Girls School

FLOTUS delivered her only prepared remarks of European trip at a girl's school in London Thursday afternoon, at one point getting choking up with emotion during the delivery. Transcript coming from WH. Details below.

But first, some details from the closed press lunch today with the G20S. According to FLOTUS aide Katie McCormick-Lelyveld, Michelle Obama sat next to Mrs. Harper of Canada at the lunch, but she had a chance to speak with all of the spouses. Some of the conversation focused on upcoming events when world leaders, and spouses, might be gathering. At the end of the meal, Mrs. Medvedeva of Russia rose, and with the help of an interpreter, thanked all the other women for coming.

Then Obama returned to Winfield House for some downtime. She arrived around 3 p.m. GMT at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School. The first signs of her arrival were here-come-the-Beatles-like shrieks of delight from the street outside, where between 200 and 300 people had gathered, according to McCormick-Lelyveld. (Your pooler was already inside.) She arrived with Jean LeBaron, the wife of the U.S. Embassy's Charge D'affairs in London.

About the school: According to documents compiled by the White House, 90 percent of the students are from minority ethnic backgrounds. Two thirds speak English as a second language. There are 55 languages spoken at the school. It is what Americans would call a "public" school, meaning it is primarily government funded. No ethnic group makes up more than 21 percent of the student body, which is almost 1,000 girls, ages 11 to 17. More than 200 remarkably behaved students sat patiently for nearly two hours in the auditorium waiting for Obama's arrival. For much of that time the recent movie version of Mamma Mia was projected on the wall, allowing the girls to intermittently groove to old Abba hits, as sung by middle-aged actors. There is a dress code at the school: grey sweaters and skirts, black tights, flat shoes. Roughly ten percent of the girls in the auditorium wore Muslim headscarves.

The shrieking continued when Obama was introduced to the auditorium. She was welcomed by the school's head teacher Jo Dibb, and took a seat on the right side of the stage with LeBaron to watch a series of presentations by the students, several of which were quite good. The program started with a solo performance by a talented young lady, who it was announced had already been accepted into an arts school to further her music. The song had a chorus with the phrase "There can be miracles when you believe." Then a group of students came on stage and with the help of a Powerpoint-like presentation explained the "learning to lead initiative," which included student-directed efforts at fundraising, and communications work. That was followed by a brief set of student-acted scenes from William Shakespeare's The Tempest, with swords and a wine bottle as props. (The drama was disrupted at one point when one of the actresses accidentally crushed the fake boulder that was also on stage as a prop.) This was followed by a series of solo and group dance performances. One dance was set to "I Am Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. The senior choir was the last act, with a rousing rendition of a song called "I'm going all the way." It had a funky groove, and Obama rocked her head to the beat and kept time by rocking her foot. After the song ended, Obama slapped the hand of the young soloist. The girl literally hopped with excitement, and then held her hand to her mouth, as if to hide a blush. The students presented LeBaron and Obama with gifts. And then Obama spoke, at a podium decorated with two vases of sunflowers. She took the microphone out of its cradle and held it in her hand.

A full transcript is forthcoming, but here are the phrases captured in the notebook of your pooler: "Wow, I can't follow that. . . . I am just very touched . . . . My husband--you know him. He is going to be very jealous of my afternoon. . . . He is meeting with important people, but it is not as much fun as my afternoon. . . . There are diamonds like this all over the world . All of you are jewels." At around this point, the girls said collectively "Awww." It became clear that Obama was getting emotional, her voice beginning to crack. So she turned to her prepared remarks, alternatively reading off the podium and looking out into the crowd. She said that this was her first foreign trip as first lady and she was glad she had come to England. She said she had enjoyed her time with Sarah Brown.

"I'm honored to meet you," she said to the audience. "The future leaders of Great Britain and this world. . . . Nothing in my life's path would have predicted that I would be standing here" as the first African American first lady of the United States. "I was raised on the south side of Chicago. . . . I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by the people around them." She told a version of the story of her courtship with POTUS, yielding lots of giggles from the girls. "He talked about the world as it is and the world as it should be . . . . You are the women that will build the world as it should be. . . . We need equal access to education for both boys and girls. . . . By getting a good education you too can control your own destiny. Please remember that. . . . I liked getting A's. I liked being smart." She told the story of the HMS Resolute desk in the Oval Office. "We are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be. . . . We know you can do it. We love you."

With that she ended, and an extended hug-fest began. As she had spoken, 24 girls from the choir that performed the last song had remained on stage. She hugged each and every one of them, some of them multiple times. Then to the apparent surprise of the Secret Service, she moved to the front of the stage, and the unusual discipline of the audience broke down as the girls rushed forward to get hugs. Obama, at some points on her knees, on the elevated stage to reach the girls below, spent several minutes giving out hugs.

Then she waved goodbye and left the stage. And the girls, now visibly excited, and several of them shrieking with delight, filed out of the room.

And because I know someone will ask, No, FLOTUS did not change her outfit from this morning. And it still, in your pooler's inexpert opinion, looked funky, oddly elegant and cool.

http://thepage.time.com/pool-report-of-obamas-visit-to-london-girls-school/