Michelle Obama raises Barack's birth-certificate issue

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama focused on praising Hillary Clinton Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, insisting she was the only presidential candidate who could be trusted with the children of the nation, but she took a side trip down a path that raised old shadows.

She said one of her jobs in the White House was to teach her daughters "to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith."

She was referencing the challenges to her husband's constitutional qualification for office as a "natural born citizen."

Dozens of lawsuits were filed over that issue before and after Obama's election in 2008, and the White House ultimately released a document he said was his Hawaiian birth certificate.

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The only law-enforcement investigation of the issue, however, concluded the document likely is a forgery.

She also raised the race issue a number of times, stating she watches her daughters, "black young women," playing on the White House lawn with their dogs.

"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," she said.

She spoke of the difficulties of raising children in the White House and said Hillary Clinton should be elected because she has spent her life working on children's issues.