Ted Barris

It’s no wonder she is a model mother. It’s no coincidence she has earned such great respect as the U.S. first lady the past eight years. But if the new leaders of her country – whoever they turn out to be – are wise, they might turn to her often to deliver positive energy and a way through the rhetorical mess that is sinking America. I mean, who paints stronger images than this one?

“I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” Michelle Obama said to the Democratic delegates on Monday, “and I watch my daughters, beautiful, intelligent, black young women – playing with their dogs on the White House lawn…”

In a sentence, she offered a glimpse of the sea change that she and her husband, President Barack Obama, have introduced to their country. More than that, she illustrated more about the American dream than anyone has since Horatio Alger’s 19^th century “rags to riches” novels. Michelle Obama, I thought, gave Americans more to be proud of than anybody has so far at the conventions when she talked about Hillary Clinton’s comeback.

“When she did not win the nomination eight years ago,” Obama said, “(Hillary) didn’t get angry or disillusioned. … (She) could have decided that this work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, (but) she never buckled under pressure.”

You see, it wasn’t about victory or defeat. Obama’s speech wasn’t hateful or partisan. She just said she admired an American woman who realized she had something to offer and did not give up on her dream.

Among the more inspirational comebacks that I’ve witnessed as a journalist involved a municipal politician. I knew Laurence Decore when he was the mayor of Edmonton back in the 1980s. The first time he ran for council in Edmonton, he came in fourth out of 11 candidates. And in 1977, on his first try for mayor in that city, his rival Cec Purves beat him by 9,000 votes; but then Decore came back in 1983 with a landslide victory over the same Cec Purves, for the mayor’s chair.

In the 1990s as Alberta provincial Liberal leader, Decore fought the long-governing Conservatives, nearly forming the government in 1993. But it wasn’t Decore’s political ups and downs that inspired me most. During the time he battled the Conservatives in the Alberta Legislature, Decore also battled cancer … twice. In 1990, while he recovered from his first cancer surgery, Decore was equipped with a device the size of a binocular case that injected him with chemotherapy even as he spoke in the Legislature.

“I am a fighter,” he told reporters who had seen him grimacing while debating in the house. “It hasn’t slowed me down one bit.”

Decore died in 1999 fighting his third recurrence of cancer. But he never gave up in politics or in life.

Last month, I interviewed a Canadian veteran in front of an audience at the Uxbridge Legion. Jody Mitic’s story is well-documented now thanks to his book Unflinching: The Making of a Canadian Sniper. But more than a published story, I think Mitic’s comeback from a debilitating wound – losing both feet in land-mine explosion during the war in Afghanistan – to a successful career as motivational speaker and civic politician is awe-inspiring. In fact, during my talk with Mitic, a young militia soldier in the audience got up and thanked Mitic for just that lift in his life.

“I watched your comeback,” the young man said, “and I realized I could do it too.”

No column about comebacks can omit Silken Laumann. Born in 1976, she emerged on the rowing scene with an armful of medals in the 1980s. As the 1992 Olympics approached, Laumann appeared destined to win gold in the single sculls, until she collided with a boat of German rowers early in the year.

“I looked at (my) leg for a few seconds and knew it was serious,” she explained later, “when my muscle was hanging at my ankle and I could see bone.”

With just a few months before the Summer Games, Laumann endured five operations and three weeks in hospital. Her physical and mental strength brought her all the way back and she still won bronze at Barcelona. She would continue to inspire fellow athletes, winning silver at the world championships and a silver in the single sculls at the 1996 Summer Olympics. But as for recognizing classic comebacks, no Canadian in those 1992 Games deserved to carry the Red Maple Leaf flag in the closing ceremonies more than Silken Laumann did.

Like Laumann, Mitic and Decore, people such as Hillary Clinton offer Michelle Obama hope. “When I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children,” Michelle Obama said this week, “I want someone with the proven strength to persevere.”

The same could be said about assessing anyone’s capabilities no matter what their political stripe.