‘Take our lives seriously,’ Michelle Obama pleads at rally for Harris in Michigan

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Michelle Obama urged men to support Kamala Harris’ bid to become America’s first woman president, warning at a rally in Michigan on Saturday that women’s lives would be at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The former first lady called the attack on abortion rights a harbinger of dangerous restrictions on health care for women. Some men may be tempted to vote for Trump because of their anger at the slow pace of progress, Obama said, but “your anger doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

“If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will be the collateral damage of your anger,” Obama said. “So are you as men willing to look the women and children you love in the eye and tell them you supported this attack on our security?”

The Kalamazoo rally was Obama’s first campaign appearance since she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in the summer, and her remarks were searing and impassioned in support of Harris.

“By all accounts, she’s shown she’s ready,” the former first lady said. “The real question is, are we as a country ready for that moment?”

Obama added: “Don’t believe the lie that we don’t know who Kamala is or what she stands for. This is someone who understands you all.”

Although Obama has been reluctant to get on the campaign trail for years, she didn’t hesitate Saturday as her speech veered from the political to the personal. Obama said she fears for the country and is trying to understand why the presidential race remains close.

“I lay awake at night thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’ she said.

Her voice vibrating with emotion, Obama spoke about women’s struggles to understand and care for their own bodies, whether it’s through menstruation or menopause. And she talked about the dangers of childbirth, when a split-second decision can mean the difference between life and death for a mother and her child.

“I’m asking all of you to take our lives seriously,” Obama pleaded.

Harris took the stage after Obama and promised the crowd that she would have their interests in mind — unlike Trump, who she accused of being only interested in himself.

“There is a yearning in our country for a president who sees people, not just looking in the mirror all the time, but sees people who get you and who will fight for you,” she said.

The rally in Kalamazoo came after Harris visited a local doctor’s office in Portage to speak to medical professionals and medical students about the impact of abortion restrictions. One said they were seeing patients from other parts of the country with strict abortion restrictions, while another said she worried people would not want to practice in important areas of medicine because of fears of government interference.

“We are witnessing a health care crisis in America that affects people of all backgrounds and genders,” Harris told reporters before visiting a doctor’s office.

Harris appeared with Beyoncé on Friday in Houston, and on Thursday in Atlanta, she performed with former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen.

That’s a level of celebrity influence that surpasses anything Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to demonstrate this year. But there’s no guarantee that will help Harris in his continued race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.

Trump brushed off Harris’ attempt to use star power for his campaign.

“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, held a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday before his next event in State College, Pennsylvania.

Saturday was the first day early in-person voting became available in Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been cast, representing 20% ​​of registered voters.

When Clinton ran against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan “when they go low, we go high.”

But this year at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she took a more strident approach. She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies instead of real ideas and solutions that will actually improve people’s lives.”

While Harris was with Obama in Michigan, President Joe Biden visited the Laborers International of North America in Pittsburgh. He recalled that Harris once picketed with the United Auto Workers — “she has a bone like a ramrod” — while Trump undermines organized labor.

“He believes that unions prevent the accumulation of wealth for individuals,” Biden said. “To beat Donald Trump for labor, more than any other race you’ve been in.”

Biden’s remarks to the mostly male audience referenced the gender gap that has been a constant feature of this year’s presidential race.

Speaking of Trump, Biden said: “I’ll just say it straight, he’s a failure as a person.”

He also said that women deserve more opportunities than they have received in the past.

“They can do anything anyone can do, including being president of the United States of America,” Biden said.