DENVER — I can't properly assess Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention without first bringing up Drew Westen.

Westen, a psychology professor and the author of a recent book titled "The Political Brain," sometimes advises Democrats about the importance of connecting emotionally with voters. (The fact that Democrats even need to be advised about this is further proof of why the Republicans usually win presidential elections.)

Anyway, Westen recently suggested that Barack Obama badly needs to demonstrate how his own personal story connects with the lives and concerns of the people he aspires to lead. As Westen put it, Obama needs "a coherent, consistent narrative of who he is that weaves together the themes of his campaign with his life history."

Michelle Obama sought Monday night to address that need.

Her aim was to strip away the "foreign," "exotic" image that has politically impeded her husband and replace it with the image of a family man who has lived the American dream and wants others to live it as well.

The speech was Westen 101. It also was de rigueur for our touchy-feely era, since it now seems that a political spouse is expected to validate the character of the candidate.

More important, it also was a message ("we're just like you!") that both Obamas will need to replicate — via ads, sound bites and stump rhetoric on a daily basis — between now and November if he hopes to win over the wary.

Michelle, of course, also was doing some repair work on her own image, a necessary task given the fact that conservatives have been tarring her as insufficiently patriotic and "angry" (barely veiled code for "angry black"), while spreading lies about how she had given a speech referring to Caucasians as "whitey" — there is no such evidence.

One might think there was something quintessentially American about an inner-city girl and daughter of a water-filtration-plant worker stricken with multiple sclerosis, who graduates from Princeton and Harvard and goes to work in public service while raising two daughters.

But, clearly, such a story line could not be allowed to stand. She sought to reclaim the story line Monday night.

I counted 12 references to "America" and "Americans," with lots of paeans to people — like her dad, like her husband, like millions of Americans — who work hard to chase the American dream and aspire to make the nation better.

"Isn't that the great American story?" she asked. "... That is why I love this country. ... I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much."

As part of her mission to link her own story to the stories of millions, she mentioned how her father, burdened by MS, needed an extra hour in the morning just to dress himself for work. She then quickly segued into a tribute to the work ethic of others — namely, the folks who give their kids "a good-night kiss" before heading out to work "the night shift."

I couldn't help but notice her targeting of blue-collar workers. That made sense, given her husband's weakness with those voters.

Then came a few humanizing brushstrokes for the other dad, Barack. Notably, it was the anecdote about how he drove their newborn daughter home from the hospital "inching along at a snail's pace."

After the speech came the Obama daughters, waving to their dad on the big screen, with Dad calling out: "Look after Mommy, and I'll see you guys on Thursday, all right?" Sounding like any traveling salesman calling home from the road. "Love you, Daddy!" they replied, sounding unforeign and unexotic.

Hammy? Maybe. Necessary? Probably, considering the Obama camp's political needs of the moment.

Naturally, I wouldn't be shocked to receive a new viral e-mail claiming that "Love you, Daddy!" was actually code for a future terrorist attack, but rational souls probably would agree that Michelle's humanization project has repaired at least some of the damage.

For now, anyway.

Dick Polman is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.