AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteNo matter who you're planning to vote for in November, or who you voted for in the presidential primaries, it's hard to argue against the obvious.
Michelle Obama is one class act.
The first lady's speech Monday during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention wasn't officially the keynote address but hers was easily the speech that brought the audience at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center together, with even those who showed up to voice their still-ongoing support for Sen. Bernie Sanders not daring to boo Obama.
Or, perhaps, there just wasn't anything to boo.
Obama, who marveled at the amount of time that's gone by since she first spoke on behalf of her husband when he was running for president in 2008, delivered an electrifying, emotional speech while endorsing Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
Overall, from her tone and poise to the family-oriented talking points and her congenial yet urgent delivery, the first lady's 15 minutes onstage were received as a palate cleanser in what has been a bruising campaign for both presidential candidates.
She impressed that she and the president have taught their daughters, Sasha and Malia, "When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is, 'When they go low, we go high.'"
But last night's speech was hardly the first time Obama has proved that she's often the classiest one in the room. Remember these other times when she did her best to take the high road:
Politics 101: "You can't have hard feelings," Michelle said on Larry King Live in October 2008 when asked if mudslinging between the two presidential campaigns ever got to her. "We will have to work together no matter who wins. We're going to need John McCain, Cindy McCain, Democrats and Republicans...We're going to need to work together."
Timing Is Everything: It's been eight years since Hillary Clinton's campaign ran the 3 a.m. phone call ad, but Michelle apparently understands that a zinger can be, if not best served cold, then at least reheated and served as leftovers. Doing "Carpool Karaoke" with James Corden on the Late Late Show, James asked if she would miss being able to order a grilled cheese from White House staffers at 3 a.m.—because he sure would. "That's the 3 a.m. phone call you'll be prepared for, right?" Michelle joked.
Freedom for All: Michelle not-so-subtly slammed Mississippi's so-called religious freedom law (which was later struck down by a federal court) while delivering a commencement address at Jackson State University in April. "We see it right here in Mississippi—just two weeks ago—how swiftly progress can hurtle backward, how easy it is to single out a small group and marginalize them because of who they are or who they love."
She added: "So we've got to stand side by side with all our neighbors—straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender; Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu immigrant, Native American—because the march for civil rights isn't just about African-Americans, it's about all Americans."
A Spoonful of Simplicity: Facing criticism for her plan to make school lunches healthier around the country, Michelle called partisan opposition "unacceptable" and told nutrition experts and educators gathered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in May 2014, "The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health."
Saying It All Without Saying a Word: In what could be interpreted as a pointed yet silent protest against the country's treatment of women, FLOTUS made waves when she decided to forego a headscarf or veil when she visited Saudi Arabia with the president in January 2015.
Hollywood Ending: Because of course she was criticized for appearing via satellite to present the Best Picture Oscar in 2013, an unfazed Obama told Today correspondent Kelly Wallace, "That's just the nature of life. I mean, we live in a time when there are bloggers and tweeters and 24-hour news and everyone has a voice in this town square, and it's a big one. That means at any point at a given time, somebody's not going to like what you do. That's the nature of things."
But she really hit the nail on the head when she said, "It's not really about me. I just happen to be in the public eye and along with everybody else in the public eye, you're subject to conversation, opinion and all that sort of stuff. There's nothing new about that."
How She Manages to Stay on the High Road: First of all, she tries not to read all the nonsense on social media. "The other thing that I have found, particularly in this job, that it's—people won't remember what other people say about you, but they will remember what you do," Michelle said during a chat with Oprah Winfrey at the United State of Women summit in Washington, D.C., in January. "So my strategy—and I've always been like this. When a teacher would come and tell me that I couldn't do something, I would get so much satisfaction proving them wrong. I'd be like, 'OK, all right, oh, you don't think I'm going to do X, Y and Z, well I'm going to be the best X, Y, Z you can imagine.'
"So when it came to this role, I just said, you know, let me just be first lady," she continued. "Let me wake up every day and work hard to do something of value, and to do it well, and to do something consequential, and to do something that I care about And then let that speak for itself. And that would shut up the haters, because I would have a whole portfolio of stuff that defined me because it's what I did, not what you called me. So the best revenge is success."
Michelle's Response to Melania Trump's Speechwriters Borrowing a Few Lines From Her 2008 DNC Speech: Rather, she didn't say anything at all.