"If her husband is one-fourth as good as she is, he'll be excellent."

"I didn't expect it, but I embrace the responsibility that I think all of us have to be actively engaged in the political process," [Michelle Obama] said. "I can't sit at home and watch my husband spend 12-hour days and not roll up my sleeves and do what I can to further the cause.

I found it of particular interest that Michelle Obama and I have a smiliar view of our fellow citizens.

She saw politics as a dirty business of power and manipulation and feared voters wouldn't see that her husband was different.

"I started to believe that we as Americans, as citizens of this state, were so jaded that we wouldn't recognize a good thing when we saw it," Michelle Obama said. "Fortunately, Barack was not as cynical about politics as I was. Unlike me, Barack always had faith in the American people."

And a U.S. Senate candidate James Durkin sees Michelle Obama's prominent role as an indication of big things in the Obamas' future:

"It may be the fact that their sights are bigger than Illinois and this is a team that is looking further down the road," he said.

Let's hope that Mr. Durkin is right and Mr. Obama has a long future in "the dirty business of power and manipulation."