Striding to the podium of the Democratic National Convention on black platform pumps, Eva Longoria delivered a spirited, primetime endorsement of President Barack Obama on Thursday night.
The former Desperate Housewives star, who has served as a co-chair of Obama's re-election committee, entertained the crowd with political points tied to her own background.
Longoria, 37, opened her five-minute address by discussing her upbringing in Corpus Christi, Tex., as the daughter of a special education teacher and an Army employee. Like the Obamas, Longoria needed a combination of loans and work to pay for college, and she described her jobs changing oil, teaching aerobics and flipping burgers.
With that perspective, Longoria criticized Obama's opponent Mitt Romney's tax cut plans as favoring the rich over the middle class.
"The Eva Longoria who worked at Wendy's flipping burgers, she needed a tax break," said the actress, looking glamorous in her electric-blue sheath dress. "But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not."
Longoria also lauded Obama's proposals that she said would help middle class families.
"President Obama, he is fighting for changes that will grow the economy from the middle out and will help all Americans succeed: jobs, education, health reform, the Dream Act, equal pay for women."
Longoria, who has spoken proudly of her Mexican-American heritage, closed her speech with the slogan of the United Farm Workers and an unofficial Obama campaign slogan from 2008, "Si, se puede" -- yes we can.
