FLASHBACK: Michelle Obama launches attack on Clinton.

Michelle Obama, who could become America’s first black First Lady, has launched a scathing attack on her husband’s opponent Hillary Clinton, stating she represents “the same old thing over and over again”.

Whereas Barack Obama preaches a message of hope and transcending differences that is more kumbaya than combative, his wife, like him a lawyer and a Harvard graduate, did not hesitate to take his main opponent on in an appearance at a Las Vegas.

On her 44th birthday, and less than 48 hours before today’s crucial Nevada caucuses, Mrs Obama spoke passionately about racial slurs against her husband and the symbolism of having a black family in the White House.

In a fiery comparison between his 2004 Senate campaign and this year’s presidential race, she said: “You know what they were saying about him then? They said he was too young. They said he was too inexperienced. They said he should wait his turn.

Well, he was too young and inexperienced. But Hillary the racist had to be stopped.