Michelle Obama laments role of money in politics — then asks donors to write 'a big, fat check'

Michelle Obama laments role of money in politics &amp;mdash; then asks donors to write &#039;a big, fat check&#039;

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

On Thursday evening, First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged Democratic donors at a fundraiser in Chicago to spend big on Democratic candidates in the midterm elections. At the same event she used the bully pulpit to decry Republicans' use of large donations in previous election cycles, remarking:

So, yeah, there's too much money in politics. There's special interests that have too much influence. But they had all that money and all that influence back in 2008 and 2012 and we still won those elections.

There is something you can do right now today to make a difference, and that is to write a big, fat check. I kid you not. I'm going to be honest with you. That's what we need you to do right now. We need you to write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.