DENVER — The woman Democrats hope will be the next first lady, Michelle Obama, told a packed Democratic National Convention on Monday night that she and her husband understand what America is, where it has come from and where it needs to go.

"I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. I come as a mom whose girls are the heart and the center of my world.

"Their future and all our children's future is my stake in this election," she told a cheering audience.

Introduced by her older brother, Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama said their father "was our rock," who worked hard every day, and their mom was a strong, good woman.

And even though Barack had a funny name, she said, and was raised in Hawaii — far away from Chicago — his mom struggled to pay the bills just like her family did, scrimped to get by.

Her and Barack's lives were, really, a great American story. "I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history, knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me."

She said when she tucks her two girls, Malia and Sasha, into bed at night, "I think about how one day, they'll have families of their own. And one day, they — like your sons and daughters — will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. Let us work together to fulfill their hopes.

"Hope, you see, that is why I love this country," she said to standing cheers. And Barack Obama shares that hope and will work each day to achieve his goals, like he always has, by bringing people together and reminding "how much we share and how alike we really are."

Monday's theme was get to know the Obamas, especially the man Democrats hope will be the next president. It's an effort to show a very different man than Republicans are portraying — an elitist who doesn't understand the vast majority of Americans' lives or dreams

Democrats young and old, those related to Obama by blood and those who have only met him a few times, took the podium to praise what they see as a common man with uncommon compassion and intellect founded in core values.

Robinson, head coach of the Oregon State basketball team, used a basketball metaphor to describe his brother-in-law, by saying Obama "is confident but not cocky, he'll take the shot if he's open, he's a team player who improves the people around him, and he won't back down from any challenge."

At the end of the night, Obama appeared via satellite (as nominees have done in recent conventions) to welcome delegates to Denver and promised to see them Thursday night, when he gives a historic acceptance speech at INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium — the first black man nominated for president by a major political party.