Michelle Obama plans to launch a voter registration drive aimed at getting more Black voters to the polls during the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
According to Politico.com, the former first lady will launch her initiative on Thursday, after months of quiet preparations and false starts.
Obama plans to remain nonpartisan, meaning she won’t endorse a particular Democratic candidate ahead of the midterms.
Her voter registration efforts have frustrated top Democrats who want Mrs. Obama to actively campaign for their candidates.
According to Politico, Obama’s staff “has gone back and forth” over wether she will campaign on behalf of candidates.
“Mrs. Obama is really excited about this voter registration effort, and her fall schedule is still coming together,” a staffer told Politico.
The reluctance on Mrs. Obama part to stump for the Democrats in the midterms may suggest she is upset at the Democratic Party’s disrespect toward her husband, former President Barack Obama.
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Last month, a NY magazine article quoted frustrated Democratic Party members who are desperate for Obama to take leadership of the Party going into the 2018 midterm elections.
As one leading Democratic operative put it: “If [Obama] were willing to go way over the line and get arrested, or something way out there, that would be a galvanizing event.”
Mr. Obama responded by telling Democrats to stop dreaming about him and move on.
In an appearance on “Ellen” in January, Michelle Obama said Americans must stay open-hearted and “forget what they’re saying in Washington.”
So far, she has stayed out of the ongoing family separation protests at the Mexican border. Her only public comment on the crisis was a retweet of an op-ed penned by fellow former first lady Laura Bush in June.
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