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Teresa welcomes Michelle to first wives' club
PITTSBURGH -- Teresa Heinz Kerry welcomed Michelle Obama to her adopted hometown today, passing a torch from one occasionally controversial first-lady-in-waiting to another.
"You know there are not many people who have gone through this who you can reach out to and say, 'What is this going to be like?'" Obama said, praising the last spouse of a Democratic nominee as an "exceptional mentor to me personally" who has "been so generous with her time and emotions."
While Senator John Kerry has campaigned actively for Obama since endorsing him in January -- and will be touring Pennsylvania this weekend on behalf -- his wife has been largely silent this campaign season. Heinz Kerry has surfaced largely as the object of skeptical comparisons to Michelle Obama, as independent spouses whose provocative remarks have proven occasionally distracting from the candidate's message.
"Michelle and I have become good friends mostly through the Blackberries," Heinz Kerry -- introduced only as "Teresa Heinz" -- said at a gym at Carnegie Mellon University, where she serves as a trustee and her late ex-husband, Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz, taught before seeking public office. "Because she's not busy and neither am I."
Yet each found a dramatically different voice to make her case. Heinz Kerry spoke in a miasmic whisper, beginning her brief speech where she frequently started when campaigning on her husband's behalf in 2004: discussing how prized American elections are to her as an immigrant from Mozambique whose father was unable to cast a vote for much of his life.
"In our society, we tend to be so numerical -- everything is inches or dollars or whatever," said Heinz Kerry, a former Republican who has proven an occasionally forceful presence in Pennsylvania politics, as she made the case against those who discount Barack Obama as inexperienced. "I know the most important things are not just what you know but what you do with what you know."
Michelle Obama brought a politician's cadence to her fifty-minute speech, delivering spitfire observations that built naturally towards applause lines, devoting much her speech to a detailed accounting of her husband’s successes as a candidate in numerical terms, citing the size his contributor base and the share of counties he won in South Carolina’s primary.
"Barack Obama will always be the underdog. No matter how much money he raises, now matter how many wins he pulls together, no matter how many delegates he accumulates, he is still the underdog," she said. "That’s the way it works."
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"That's the way it works." And in his case, it should be... he's a child in the game of adults. By November the Dems will have a black McGovern on their ticket.
I love it that people like "leftnomore" continue to underestimate Obama. It just makes his job easier. Why don't you ask the Clintons what happened to them when they didn't take Obama seriously enough? Last I checked, he's got their backs to the wall.
Maybe, one of the reporters at the Boston Globe could do some research on the Heinz family life in Mozambique. The Portuguese was the most brutal colonialist in Africa. The Heink family was part of the ruling elite in Mozambique, and made most of their fortune during that period. Investigate what role they played in proping up that brutal regime that enslaved more black people than the South African Apartheid system.
Naaah...she is a lib. That type of investigative journalism is reserved for Conservatives.
OBAMA IS OUR SAVIOR. Barak and Reverend Wright are Right, God D*** america. Now is the time to rally around Barak and Michelle and make them proud! No more so called elections where typical white people vote, blacks have been held down too long! And news flash america, Barak is right, your typical white american is a racist! Obama will apologize to our Muslim brothers for arrogant american policies of hate and slavery. Only Obama can forgive an evil nation founded on slavery. REPARATIONS NOW!
If the Heinz family were part of the ruling elite in Mozambique, Theresa can't be held responsible, as she married into the Heinz family in her adult years.
Before you spew out falsehoods, do some research. At least, make your claims believable...
Mike speaks the truth. Thank You!
"You know there are not many people who have gone through this who you can reach out to and say, 'What is this going to be like?'"
You mean, being a wife who is materially contributing to the downfall of your husband's political campaign because of ill-chosen words in speeches? Becoming a disliked icon-adjunct? Acting like a spoiled, bitter shrew in public?
Yep. Michelle and Theresa have TONS in common!
"That's the way it works" why? Does she mean because he's black he will always be the underdog? Talk about playing the race card. Glad to see Sen. Obama unlocked the attic door he put her in for the last month, keep talking Michelle, I'm understanding you and your husband more and more.
This reporter obviously has no idea what "miasmic" means.
Birds of a feather.
Theresa Heinz was a major liability in 04 because of her mouth, her tone deafness and obvious contempt for average people. Michelle Obama is exactly the same: a proudly radical left-winger with nothing good to say about the country that made her a rich woman living in a bubble. Thus it is no surprise at all that these two got together.
Both women are extremely nasty and divisive figures with little concern for anyone outside their cirlce of rich liberal friends. They are no credit to themselves or their country, and come November, this will be plainly evident.
The wall that the Clintons are up against is the black vote which goes 90% Democrat. For that same reason there is no equivilent wall for Obama to push McCain against. Karen, you're in lefty la-la land.
Teresa Heinz would've made a fantastic First Lady, but she's been a hero in her own right. Her charitable work in Pennsylvania has garnered her a lot of well-deserved popularity in the state. An ex-girlfriend of mine worked in health research, and she absolutely loved Teresa Heinz Kerry. Called her a pathfinder in research on women's health.
Dear Sasha Issenberg,
I'd like to point out that Mrs. Kerry at the time of her first husband's death was NOT divorced. Therefore, a widow. Hence, her extensive Heinz holdings and wealth.
In other words, he was never her EX-husband...Emily Post 101!!
Teresa was the daughter of a doctor who believed in alternative medicine, and traveled the bush to care for its people. She marched against apartheid, so don't make assumptions.
Mike you are sooooo confused! The Heinz family was in Pittsburgh, making ketchup, whereas Teresa's father was a DOCTOR helping people. From him she learned a love of the land and a concern for all kinds of people.
Even ill-informed neocons like you.
Teresa is Kerry's second wife and therefore ineligible for the first wives club. Kerry also wasn't elected so she's ineligible for the first ladies club. Hmm. How about African-American wives of presidential candidates club? Teresa was born in Africa. Just trying to be helpful
4. I have a comment for no.1. You evidently have not been in the real world lately. Obama will win big for several reasons.
a. He is the best thing that has happened to this country since Lincoln.
b. The American people are soooo hungry for change that no Republican will have a chance. I hope McCain has strength enough to make it to the election. I don't think he is in that good of health. He can't think straight mixing up Iranian extremists with Al Qaida having Liberman whisper in his ear the correct answer.
c. There are many more decent people in this country than there are bad and the majority can see the greatness in Obama. This country and the world will be a better place when he is President.
Curious if the topic of John Kerry appearing on Don Imus' St Patrick's Day show was discussed
Mike,
Teresa is not a Heinz. She married one.
The Heinzes made their fortune in the United States.
I guess history is only available to liberals?
All of Teresa's dough could not deliver the Presidency for John Kerry. Just like Michelle Teresa was a distraction and so the campaign had to keep her muzzled. Let us hope that Michelle Obama sticks to the script and do not make any stupid remarks like the one about "for the first time in my life I am proud of my country."
I can understand # 3 Mike's post here about Teresa belonging to the ruling elitist colonists who existed in Mozambique. Teresa claims her father could not vote for much of his life. Africa is for Africans.
mike,
maybe there they learn how to change the blood in ketchup. they had too much and could not recycle.
Teresa and Michelle should have lots to talk about, they both hate America.
Check out the First Lady Polls-M. Obama-5%, Bill Clinton-32%, and Cindy McCain-63%, and Jane endorsed Obama-imagine that acid party. Jane, Teresa, Rev. Wright's wife, oh boy...no wonder us democrats are jumping parties! Michelle Obama will make Hillary look like Mother Teresa in a few years....can a first lady be impeached? Unreal-and she never will do anything for anyone, but run her mouth...better put those two little kids back on another 8 week spring break-Barack or your wife will cost you the election.
Beth Crews @13 rightly points out that Teresa Heinz and her late husband were not divorced. It would be nice to see a correction to that effect.
Teresa Heinz Kerry and Michelle Obama do have a lot in common -- great hearts, great courage, honesty and a marked distaste for BS. Both are good speakers who tell it like it is. I'll never forget watching Mrs. Heinz Kerry's speech at the 2004 DNC. I'd never seen a political wife who spoke so beautifully and with such evident sincerity.
Michelle Obama is a magnificent speaker, as well -- fiery, principled, and just as skilled a rhetorician as her husband, though with a completely different style. Teresa would have been a warm, compassionate, elegant first lady and I mourn for our nation that she has not graced the White House. Michelle will transform the office of First Lady with her own warmth and style and we can look forward to a loving, happy First Family for the first time in many years...
Teresa Heinz Kerry and Michelle Obama do have a lot in common -- great hearts, great courage, honesty and a marked distaste for BS. Both are good speakers who tell it like it is. I'll never forget watching Mrs. Heinz Kerry's speech at the 2004 DNC. I'd never seen a political wife who spoke so beautifully and with such evident sincerity.
Michelle Obama is a magnificent speaker, as well -- fiery, principled, and just as skilled a rhetorician as her husband, though with a completely different style. Teresa would have been a warm, compassionate, elegant first lady and I mourn for our nation that she has not graced the White House. Michelle will transform the office of First Lady with her own warmth and style and we can look forward to a loving, happy First Family for the first time in many years...
i guess obama didn't tie the gag on michelle tight enough,or for got that she can pick the locks on the front door,and she got out of the cage again,she will cause him to lose this campain by running the heinz history of enslaving more africans than any other country in the world,,america is not the only country that bought blacks from black in africa.
Teresa Heinz Kerry is a classy lady who tells it like it is. I can see why she and Michelle Obama would be drawn to each other. Back in 2004, the country lost a wonderful opportunity to have a smart, articulate, well-informed first lady who genuinely cares about making this country a better place. I hope that in 2008, we'll make the right choice.
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
According to her official biography[1], Teresa was born Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira to Portuguese parents in Portuguese East Africa, at the time a colony and now the independent nation of Mozambique. Her father was José Simões-Ferreira Junior[2] (1910-1989; born in Albergaria-a-Velha, Portugal), and her mother was Irene Thierstein (1912-1997; [3] born a Portuguese national in Lourenço Marques-Mozambique[4], daughter of Alberto Thierstein[5], a British national probably of German origin[citation needed], from La Valleta-Malta (at the time a British-ruled territory), and Maria Burló[6], born in Alexandria-Egypt, who both migrated to Mozambique) .
Teresa (pronounced IPA: ['t(ɨ)ɾezɐ]) grew up in Mozambique's capital, Lourenço Marques (now called Maputo). Her father was a medical doctor, and "Teresinha" (which means "Little Teresa" or "Terri" in Portuguese) led a relatively privileged life. Her father, however, often brought her along on his calls into the African bush, where she witnessed how those of lesser means lived.
Teresa Simões-Ferreira earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Romance Languages and literature from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She graduated from the Interpreters School of the University of Geneva (Switzerland) before moving to the United States to work at the United Nations as an interpreter.
She is fluent in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, as well as her native tongue, Portuguese.
From Mike: Notice that after all her “supposed” travels through the African bush she never perfected one darn African language. Notice also how her “African loving” dad chose to have her educated in what was in those times, one of the most brutally racist country on this planet earth, South Africa.
Even the UN described the Portuguese reign in Mozambique as one of the most brutal in Africa. (No link. Look it up yourself).
Your beloved “almost first lady”, Teresa Heinz Kerry, grew up in a typical Portuguese colonialist family in Mozambique, and engaged in the all the things that typical Portuguese colonialist in Mozambique, engaged in around that time. Namely, that black Africans were sub-human, so therefore, we should treat them as such.
I know how much that truth conflict with all the “love and caring “you liberals have reserved for yourselves. But facts are facts.
Racism and cultural genocide is only relevant to liberals when it can be used as a big stick to beat conservatives.
Typical of you liberals. Even after Teresa sold herself and her family as such "African humanitarians" (endlessly tracking through the bush, and all), you still ignore the fact that her "African loving" family didn't think it was necessary for her to learn an African language. Or if she did, she decided that it wasn't important enough to include in her resume. She is most certainly" proud as a peacock" of her fluency in all those European languages listed above. Isn't she?
There is a simple way you liberals can prove me wrong. Just ask The Boston Globe, or any other liberal media outlet to employ the same undercover techniques they use when going after conservatives. Do some truly in-depth interviews of Teresa Heinz past classmates at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South.Africa. It should be quite easy. Now that the you liberals no longer have to run interference for "your boy" John Kerry, everyone's now free to be truthful about Teresa's time at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South.Africa.
If their investigations prove me wrong, I promise I will apologize to one and all.
But, I am not holding my breath.
It's a shame to see the folks in Boston still have not changed. As long as you have a white man who is president in this country the world is fine. Try being black just for one day and you might understand, what Michelle Obama was speaking about. America may be the land of the free and the home of the brave if you are a white ango-saxon male. Who'a family and friends came over on the Mayflower or settled in Jamestown Va. But GOD forbid if you are not and maybe came through Ellis Island. If Mr. Obama does make it to be President, you will get to see a black man who cares about his country and everyone who lives in it not just black or white. BUT EVERYONE in this country. Gee that's a thought.