ATLANTA (AP) _ Michelle Obama told the audience at an event
celebrating black achievement that her husband is the person America needs in the White House right now, not in four or eight years.

Barack Obama's other half spoke briefly at the opening of the Trumpet Awards last night and was greeted with a standing ovation when she took the stage in Atlanta.

In her address, she was critical of those whom she said would "dismiss this moment as an illusion, a fairytale,'' a response to comments made by the spouse of her husband's rival, Bill Clinton, who said the Illinois senator was telling a "fairy tale'' about his opposition to the Iraq war.

Former President Clinton has appeared on several black radio programs recently to clarify that he was using the phrase "fairy tale'' in reference to Obama's record on the Iraq war, not his historic bid to become the nation's first black president.