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First Lady Michelle Obama made a quick trip to Cincinnati on Thursday, preaching her husband?s record to the choir and stopping briefly at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

She collected some big money - about 300 people paid anywhere from $250 to $10,000 to hear her speak and to meet her.

She delivered a vigorous defense of her husband?s administration to the crowd at the downtown Westin hotel, saying President Obama?s work ?is not done.?

?If any family in this country is struggling,? the First Lady said, ?we can not be satisfied with our own families? good fortune.?

Obama spoke for nearly half an hour. Before that, she appeared at a private reception with big donors where attendees had an opportunity to have their picture taken with the First Lady.

Wearing a sleeveless black dress, Obama largely recited the accomplishments of the Obama administration. She told crowd that her husband ? raised by a single parent, with the help of his grandmother ? understands the problems of struggling families ?because he has lived them.?

?Who do we want to be??? she asked. ?Will we be a country where success is limited to a few at the top? This country is strongest when we are all better off.?

Her husband came to office three years ago, she said, to bring about change; and said change ?does not come easy.?

It was her first visit to Cincinnati since Sept. 2008, when her husband was running for president. Then, she spoke at a National Baptist Convention at the Duke Energy Center.

Her comments drew criticism from Christopher Maloney, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party.

?The time has come and gone for empty rhetoric and broken promises. Ohioans simply cannot afford another four years of job loss, higher taxes and increased debt under Barack Obama,? he said.

The First Lady praised the passage of health care reform legislation that she said has already ?saved millions of seniors in this country an average of $600 a year for prescription drugs.?

?Now, there are some folks talking about repealing that reform,?? she said. ?Are we going to let that happen? Are we going to allow children to be denied health care coverage who have cancer or other serious diseases? We can?t do that.?

Shot back Maloney: ?The ?folks? Mrs. Obama dismisses represent 2.3 million Ohioans and a majority of voters in all 88 Ohio counties who demanded the repeal of Obamacare?s job-killing mandate in November.?

She also praised her husband for getting rid of the ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? policy toward gays in the military.

?Never again will our young people have to lie about who they are,?? she said.

Among those at the mid-day event were State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, and his wife, Jan-Michelle Kearney, both personal friends of the Obamas. Jan-Michelle Kearney attended Harvard Law School with Mrs. Obama.

After the fundraiser, the First Lady changed into a navy blue dress and took a private tour of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. She spent just over a half hour in the facility, walking through with Dina Bailey, director of exhibitions and collections. Walking with them was Mayor Mark Mallory and Verna Williams, of Pleasant Ridge, and Williams? 12-year-old daughter, Allison. Williams has been a friend of Obama?s since college.

It was a personal tour and a photo opportunity, but reporters weren?t close enough to hear Obama?s questions or comments. She?d never been to the museum center before and wanted to see it, said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory.

?I don?t think people in Cincinnati are clear on the significance of the freedom center,? he said. ?The First Lady was very interested in seeing it.?

He said she also asked about the economy in Cincinnati, which he told her was looking up. Bailey explained, he said, that the museum would soon merge with the Cincinnati Museum Center. Without that change, the Freedom Center would have had to close next year.

Originally posted here:
First Lady raises money, visits Freedom Center