*Barack and Michelle Obama each made separate moves this week that caught national attention – one politically, the other physically.
The former FLOTUS, today, launches When We All Vote, a new celeb-heavy, non-partisan voter registration initiative aimed at increasing voter registration rates in all 50 states ahead of the midterms. In 2014, more than 1/5th of eligible American citizens were not registered to vote, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts research cited in the press release.
Tom Hanks, Janelle Monae, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are on board, as are prominent Obama-era officials, including Valerie Jarrett, who will serve as the group’s president, and former first lady chief of staff Tina Tchen, who will serve as the treasurer, according to Politico.
The initiative, which will be incorporated as a non-profit and be separate from the Obama Foundation, is still raising money for what sources familiar with the effort say will be an $8 million budget, Politico reported. Mrs. Obama and several other prominent figures involved with the group will appear in PSAs as part of the initiative and at live events throughout the United States in the coming months.
Watch the first PSA below:
When We All Vote is using a three-pronged strategy to achieve its registration and participation oriented goals: volunteer recruitment; improved voter registration processes; and increased conversation across the United States.
Monáe adds in a statement, “It’s gonna be our generation that corrects the mistakes of our past and creates a more inclusive future that works for us all. As voters, we are the ones that hold the power to make this dream a reality.”
In other Obama news, the former president got his groove on while in South Africa speaking at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. The ex-POTUS was called out by SA’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, who said Obama may be able to cut a rug, but has nothing on Mandela, whose simple swaying with raised elbows became known as the “Madiba Dance.”
Watch below:
Obama delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, in Johannesburg, held on the heels of Donald Trump’s treasonous press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. It was described by The New Yorker as Obama’s “most extensive reflection so far on the current political climate, though it did not once mention Trump by name.”
Read Obama’s address in its entirety here.
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