Gallery • 4 Photos

Photo by Julianne Griffith

Michelle Obama speaks about the importance of voter turnout at the Fitzgerald Field House at the University of Pittsburgh, Wednesday October 28.

Just two weeks ahead of the Oct. 11 deadline to register to vote in the general election, First Lady Michelle Obama told the crowd at the University of Pittsburgh last Wednesday that the “stakes are too high” to stay at home this election.

“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but also who doesn’t vote,” Obama said to  the crowd gathered at the university’s Fitzgerald Field House.

Speaking of the president’s re-election campaign in 2012, when he won Pennsylvania by close to 300,000 votes, Obama reminded the crowd that the figure worked out to a difference of approximately 17 votes per precinct.

“We cannot squander this opportunity,” Obama said to the crowd. “We can’t take anything for granted.”

Though the crowd at the University of Pittsburgh gym was diverse – groups of separate ethnicities and ages were represented at the event – the goal of college-aged outreach was clear. Voter turnout for people ages 18-24 declined from 48.5 percent in 2008 to 41.2 percent in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center.

The First Lady also repeated a theme from her speech at La Salle University in Philadelphia from earlier in the day, refusing to refer to Donald Trump by name. Obama only referred to the Republican presidential nominee in passing, though it was abundantly clear who she was talking about.

“We know that being president isn’t anything like reality TV,” Obama said.

Obama went after Trump on a variety of topics, which included an attack on the Republican for his role in starting the Birther movement by questioning if Barack Obama was born on American soil. Michelle Obama told the crowd in Philadelphia that the subject “cannot be swept under the rug by an insincere sentence at a press conference.”

Obama especially questioned the nominee’s emotional fitness for the presidency.

“The president cannot just pop off or lash out with aggression,” Obama said. “If a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate thinks not paying taxes makes you smart, if a candidate regularly and flippantly makes insulting comments about women, that’s who that candidate really is –  a candidate who is not going to change once they take office.”

Benjamin Baklarz, a freshman sports, arts and entertainment management major, was at the rally after catching one of the buses from campus.

“[Obama] was very emotional, and I liked that,” Baklarz said. “She was there to help, to get people to go out and vote and to volunteer.”

A number of other political figures from western Pennsylvania spoke before the first lady on Wednesday. Austin Davis, vice chair of Allegheny County Democratic Committee, led the Pledge of Allegiance before Obama’s speech.

The other speakers at the event included Pennsylvania Democratic Party Campus Organizer Betsy Good, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh City Councilman Dan Gilman, Allegheny County Councilman DeWitt Walton and Erin McClelland, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania District 12 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Fitzgerald spent his time on stage going after Trump, as well.

“What was Donald Trump most proud of? He was most proud of not paying his fair share,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to send a signal that Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania values everybody and is ready to move this country forward.”

Fitzgerald went on to remind the crowd that Donald Trump had once called climate change a “hoax.” This criticism came after the Allegheny County executive spoke at the Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh on Sept. 21, where Trump was the keynote speaker.

Obama also praised Clinton’s commitment to combat climate change and used the Sept. 26 presidential debate to draw a comparison between the Democrats and Trump’s preparedness.

Walton made an impression on Baklarz after reciting passages of Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred.” Junior criminal justice major Elliot Bereit also commented that the speakers at Wednesday’s rally spoke with more vigor than speakers at other rallies he has attended in the past.

“The general intensity of all of them stuck out to me,” Bereit said. “I had gone to Bernie Sanders’ rally before the primaries, and while that was intense I feel like everyone was much more ramped up.”

While Obama’s speech emphasized the importance of active voter participation, the first lady rallied for the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“When I hear people say they don’t feel inspired in this election, I have to disagree,” Obama said. “Right now we have an opportunity to elect one of the most qualified people to ever run for office of President of the United States.”

The outgoing first lady recently appeared in a TV advertisement for the Clinton campaign, urging parents to vote for the Democratic nominee. Throughout her speech, Obama promised that Clinton would continue the policies of the outgoing president.

Obama and the prior speakers continuously urged everyone in attendance to register to vote before the Oct. 11 deadline, and to turn out on Election Day. Both Baklarz and Bereit said they were registered to vote before the event, though Bereit said that the event has inspired him to become more politically active.

“There’s a lot at stake,” Bereit said. “I’ve been emailing to get in touch to do stuff like canvassing and get more involved in the campaign.”