Michelle Obama Sparks Reaction at Time 100 Gala

Last night I worked the red carpet at Time Magazine’s 2009 gala event honoring the 100 Most Influential People in the World. It was one of those occasions when everyone who was anyone was present, and I was excited to be in the midst of it all. Among the dignitaries, leaders, revolutionaries, titans, entertainers, scientists, heroes and pioneers that were honored, one woman, Michelle Obama, the keynote speaker, stood out not because of the things she has done but because of the things that have been done for her.

That may sound belittling, but I say that not to diminish her extraordinary hard work and individual sacrifice. If you didn’t know this before, Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. As a young lawyer she was assigned to mentor her husband President Barack Obama when they first met. She hails from Chicago’s far south side; a long way from where she is now.

“She would be extraordinary no matter what her husband was doing for a living,” said Van Jones, the White House’s green jobs guru, on the red carpet last night. “She has passion for ordinary people so that kids can identify with her. Working mom’s can identify with her. The Queen of England can identify with her.”

But Obama acknowledges that she has influence, because of others who pushed her and believed in her, and now she wants to continue that service.

She announced yesterday that the White House was creating a Social Innovation Fund as part of the new Serve America Act. The Fund will provide $50 million to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs who focus on public service.

See, what many do not realize is that when Oprah Winfrey characterized Obama as a “Phenomenal woman” in Time Magazine this month, she did so not because Obama is the first black woman to serve as First Lady. She called her phenomenal because as Winfrey puts it “her political power is secondary to her heart power.”

Talk show personality Tavis Smiley accompanied by Princeton professor Cornell West agreed. Smiley explained that her “humanity and love for people” is what draws people to her. Obama is exceptional because she recognizes that she did not get to her level of “influence” on her own sweat alone, and she knows that others need help just as much if not more than she did.

“Our success was made possible with the encouragement of a diligent parent or teacher, a grandparent who told us we had real talent, an older sibling who paved the way and set a good example, a scholarship or grant that created an unexpected opportunity, or a neighbor or community leader who told us to dream big,” said Obama. “I never imagined that, as a result of all that support, I would be in a position to be a role model for girls around the globe.”

Time’s managing editor Rick Stengel acknowledged to me that Obama is “a role model for women around the world.”  But Obama wants us to realize that the same “influence” that she has we all have.

We all have the ability to influence the outcome of someone elses life, she said last night while encouraging fellow Time honorees and American citizens to inspire a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to direct their energy toward solving their community’s – and our nation’s – most serious social problems.

In doing so, she says that we will all be rewarded by “watching young people recognize that they have the power to enrich not only their lives, but the lives of others as well.”