First lady says health system unacceptable

    WASHINGTON - Michelle Obama, speaking as a wife, mother and daughter - but not as a policymaker like a previous first lady - urged women on Friday to join her husband's fight to overhaul health care.

Her 23-minute speech, embraced by a receptive female audience at the White House, contributed to the administration's all-out public relations push on health care. President Obama will resume it Sunday with appearances on morning news shows, followed by a visit Monday to CBS's David Letterman show.

Mrs. Obama focused on the White House's efforts to expand coverage and block insurers' ability to drop customers who get seriously ill. But she stopped well short of the deeply involved, hands-on role played by another first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, nearly two decades ago.

In urging passage of "my husband's plan," Mrs. Obama stuck mainly to the themes and backdrops of more traditional first ladies, including Laura Bush. She spoke repeatedly from the perspective of a mother and wife who sympathized with less-wealthy women's plights.

"For two years on the campaign trail, this was what I heard from women, that they were being crushed, crushed by the current structure of our health care," the first lady said.