The Upper East Side in search of a soul

The crowd was glossy, female, affluent - and mostly white, "the type you might see at a fashion show," remarked my neighbour. About 100 or so well-heeled New Yorkers had gathered at a fundraising lunch for Michelle Obama, hosted by art dealers Peter and Patty Findlay, in their duplex on the Upper East Side.

The blonde documentary-maker Rory Kennedy was there, as was Vicky Kennedy, Senator Teddy Kennedy's wife, keen to push forward the momentum the Obamas have gained from the endorsements from both Caroline Kennedy and her uncle, the senior senator for Massachusetts.

Suddenly, in walked Michelle Obama who has one God-given advantage in any room, that at well over six foot she is the tallest person there. Without fanfare, dressed elegantly in a fitted white shirt, she took a microphone and spoke without stopping for almost an hour. You could have heard a pin drop, what she had to say was so revolutionary - and so, well, spiritual. Spirituality is not a quality New Yorkers are best known for.

Michelle Obama explained that to get her husband elected, a change of mindset is needed for everyone everywhere. "You are going to need to get out of your comfort zones," she said. "Americans need to want more than just to make money," she said, remarking on the presence of "holes in people's souls". She talked of how even though she and her husband had gone to Ivy League universities, there had been no training there for the kind of nonprofit work both had ended up doing.

She also quoted her father, who had told her that it's not what you do when people are watching that shows the true measure of a person, but what you do when they are not.

Barack Obama worked with Chicago's homeless when no one was watching.

Earlier that week I'd had dinner with Kerry Kennedy who, unlike her cousins, is supporting Hillary Clinton, because, she said, she feels she wants a president "ready to go on day one".

Michelle Obama says her husband is ready to govern now. Given that he is not likely to run again, this could be this country's one chance of changing the nature of America's aspirations.

"Dream with me," she ended. The next day - to everyone's surprise - Rupert Murdoch's New York Post endorsed Obama over Clinton, who has cosied up to the Post for years.

And I wondered if Michelle Obama's dream was beginning.