Michelle Obama fires up young voters for Hillary Clinton at first 2016 campaign appearance in Virginia

Michelle Obama made her debut on the 2016 presidential campaign trail on Friday, urging young voters to support Hillary Clinton in a speech at George Mason University in the swing state of Virginia. “It’s not enough to just come to a rally and take a few selfies. It’s not enough to get angry,” Ms Obama said. “We must take action.”

The First Lady boasts approval ratings close to 60 per cent, making her the most popular surrogate in the Clinton campaign’s formidable arsenal. Known on Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns as “The Closer,” her speech at the Democratic Convention in July was widely thought the most effective of the four-day event.

With a pop cultural cachet that transcends partisan politics, Ms Obama has recently appeared on talkshows hosted by James Corden and Ellen DeGeneres, and is being deployed now to energise two key groups in the Obama coalition on Ms Clinton’s behalf: young people and black voters, both of whom need to be turned out in large numbers in swing states.

In Virginia, where the 17 October voter registration deadline is approaching, the First Lady was met with chants of “four more years!” But as she praised her husband’s record, she also made a full-throated case for Ms Clinton to be his successor. “It’s excruciatingly clear there’s only one person in this election we can trust,” she said, “and it is our friend, Hillary Clinton.”

“When I hear folks saying they don’t feel inspired in this election, I disagree, I am inspired,” Ms Obama went on. “I am inspired by [Hillary Clinton’s] persistence and her consistency, by her heart and her guts… We’ve never had a candidate with this much experience... And yes, she happens to be a woman.”

Though she did not mention him by name, the First Lady offered pointed criticism of Donald Trump and the Republican's divisive campaign. “The presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are," she said.

"The same thing is true of a presidential campaign. So if a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears, and lies on the trail, if a candidate has no clear plans to implement their goals, if they disrespect their fellow citizens - including folks who’ve made extraordinary sacrifices for our country - let me tell you that is who they are. That is the kind of president they will be.”

“Being the president," she added, "isn’t anything like being on reality TV.”

With the issue of President Obama’s birthplace back in the headlines, his wife also contrasted her husband’s dignified response to the so-called “birther” controversy with Mr Trump’s previous, racially-charged pursuit of his birth certificate. “Barack has answered those questions with the example he set by going high when they go low,” Ms Obama said.

She also reflected wryly on the new realities that would face the couple and their daughters after leaving the White House in January. “My husband’s going to need a new job,” she said. “I’m going to have to find a job. We’re going to be moving to a new home so we’ll have to pack. We’ve got to get the old house cleaned up so we can get our security deposit back."