Michelle Obama in the 'burbs to push husband's candidacy

Oscar Abello never knew his Villanova University classmates would turn out as a united group for anything that didn't involve basketball.

But they came yesterday, in the thousands, to see the woman some would call the first lady of change, Michelle Obama, at a rally organized by the school's grassroots group, Students for Obama, of which Abello is a member.

"Pennsylvania people, it starts soon!" the wife of Democratic presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama said to loud applause. Michelle Obama toured the 'burbs yesterday, with stops in Montgomery and Delaware counties.

Her visit came on a day when the Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, the leading organization of black ministers in the city, announced their support for Obama, despite personal appeals from Gov. Ed Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter to support rival Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Abello said that he wasn't disappointed that Michelle Obama came to the university in her husband's stead.

"The message transcends any messenger you could think of," Abello said. "It's hope. It's let's stop being afraid. It's let's do this thing together."

During the hour-long rally at the packed Nevin Field House on Villanova's campus in Radnor, Delaware County, Obama spoke of an ever-shifting bar that anyone chasing the American dream faces today, her husband included.

"Just the thing you do is never quite enough," she said. "The bar is shifting and moving on regular folks like crazy."

Obama, who spoke extemporaneously, moved frat boys to hoot-holler and elderly women to fist-pump. At times, she was biting with her sarcasm. Commenting on the way the current administration presents the Iraq war to the public, she mocked: "Don't worry your pretty little heads over this war . . . y'all just keep shopping."

Obama's visit to the Children's Ark day-care center at St. George's church in Ardmore, Montgomery County, earlier in the day was more subdued. She held a roundtable discussion with five working mothers who appeared to be in their mid-30s.

The conversation centered on the demands of being a working mother in today's society.

"I grew up thinking I could have it all," Obama said. "Then you grow up and get there . . . "

"And it's hard," the five women answered in unison.

Obama, a professed overachiever, said she pushes herself to give 110 percent to her daughters, her husband and her job as vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, from which she is currently on leave.

"Women are doing more than before, but we always feel like we're failing," she said.

The women agreed, and also agreed with Obama's assumption that their group was probably better off than most.

She said that her husband has the ability to connect people in a way that would reconnect the country, even if his candidacy requires her to give another 110 percent.

"This would be the man I would want leading us if I weren't married to him," she said. "But this is the compromise I have to risk and the risk is nothing compared to the gain."

Michelle Daniszewski, a Haverford High School math teacher, didn't know she was one of the roundtable participants until she walked through the door yesterday morning, she said.

Daniszewski, 35, of Drexel Hill, was an undecided registered Democrat when the roundtable began. Afterwards, she confessed: "I'm leaning now."

"She was honest, delightful," Daniszewski said. "It's nice to see her as a working mom dealing with the same things I do." *

Dave Davies contributed to this report.