First Lady Michelle Obama to speak at two Boston events on Friday
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WASHINGTON -- First Lady Michelle Obama will headline two Democratic National Committee events in Boston on Friday evening, the White House has announced. She will attend two events at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The first, a reception, has tickets costing $500 and up. The second, a dinner, has tickets beginning at $5,000 apiece. Both events will benefit the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee supporting the president’s reelection committee, Obama for America, and the Democratic National Committee. The first lady last visited Boston on June 30, when she attended a fund-raiser in Chestnut Hill. She was back in Massachusetts over the summer, when she, President Obama, and the couple’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard. Earlier Friday she will be in Concord, N.H., as part of her “Let’s Move!” initiative to foster healthy eating and active living. She will visit the Penacook Community Center to highlight an example of a collaborative community effort to promote health and wellness, good nutrition, and physical activity. Raise Your Voice Obama will be joined by New Hampshire First Lady Dr. Susan Lynch, a pediatrician who also advocates for healthy eating habits and regular exercise. The Boston visit is part of a series of campaign appearances Obama is making around the country this year for her husband’s re-election. On Monday she spoke in Kansas City, Mo., where she echoed the themes of fairness and equality that President Obama laid out in his State of the Union address. She praised the progress the country has made, highlighting nearly two straight years of private sector job growth and a declining unemployment rate, but pointed out the work that still needs to be done. “I’m going to be traveling around this country making sure that people understand what’s at stake,” Obama said on Monday. “Your president has been working hard to rebuild this economy based on a vision that we all share -– the belief, as my husband says, that hard work should pay; that responsibility should be rewarded; and that everyone -- everyone in this country -- should get a fair shot, and do their fair share, and play by the same rules,” she said. Obama relayed her personal story of growing up in a “little-bitty” apartment on the South Side of Chicago. He father was a blue-collar worker in the city’s water filtration plant. Neither of her parents attended college. But they worked and saved so their she and her brother could live better lives, she said. “More than anything else, that’s what’s at stake -- that fundamental promise that no matter who you are or how you started out, if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourselves and, yes, an even better life for your kids,” Obama said. “And on just about every issue -– from health care to education to the economy -– that is the choice we face in this election.” Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeTracyJan. |
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