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Michelle Obama overcame a teleprompter mishap during her first major live televised speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, she wrote in her 2022 book.
The former first lady recalled in “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times” that as her brother, Craig Robinson, hugged her after his introduction to her address, he told her, “Left prompter is OUT.”
Looking around the arena, Obama realized that while the teleprompter on the right side of the stage was functioning properly, the screen of the left teleprompter was blank.
She noticed another problem, as well. The “confidence monitor” containing the text of her speech in the center of the arena was also unreadable, blocked by the vertical “Michelle” signs the Democratic Party had distributed to audience members.
“I was standing there on live television, knowing I was supposed to speak for 16 minutes straight,” she wrote. “There was no pausing the show or calling for help. For a second, I felt wildly alone — and also wildly exposed.”
Luckily, Obama was prepared. She had spent weeks rehearsing the speech until she had it completely memorized.
“In that vulnerable and exposed moment, I had one last form of protection: I’d done the fire drill,” she wrote, referencing how Craig used to make their family perform fire drills growing up in their Chicago apartment. “I could stop fretting about everything that was broken and blocked and rely on what was in my head and also in my heart. I had what I needed, it turned out, even with my nerves going haywire and tens of thousands of people watching, even with a malfunctioning teleprompter and a confidence monitor obscured by a sea of waving signs. I spoke for the next 16 minutes without missing a single word.”
In the speech, Obama spoke about her family and upbringing, meeting her husband, and being propelled by their shared values.
“Barack and I were raised with so 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,” she said in her 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 all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements 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 address on the first night of the Republican National Convention. The Trump campaign defended Melania’s speech, but a writer for the Trump Organization, Meredith McIver, later said she had inadvertently used phrasing from Obama’s address.
Michelle Obama has spoken at every DNC since her 2008 appearance, including this week in Chicago, where she and Barack Obama expressed their support for Kamala Harris.
