"Like most of us, Velma Hart just wanted a little reassurance at Obama's town hall"

Velma Hart says her expectations are "absolutely" unrealistic. "But I guess I started to believe, on some small level, that he had a magic wand" with which to fix the economy.Velma Hart says her expectations are "absolutely" unrealistic. "But I guess I started to believe, on some small level, that he had a magic wand" with which to fix the economy.Velma Hart created a buzz during a CNBC economic town hall event when she commented to the President about her dissatisfaction with the state of the economy. While sitting for a portrait, Velma Hart was surprised with a call from a person from the office of the First Lady. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Michelle Singletary (WaPo):

By the time I called her, Velma Hart was surprised at how her words had been dissected and analyzed. Hart is the middle-aged, middle-class Maryland woman who asked President Obama to reassure her that he remained the crusader for change she had voted for.

"The financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family," she told the president last week during a town hall meeting in Washington. "My husband and I joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot-dogs-and-beans era of our lives. But quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is this my new reality?"

Hart, who was a U.S. Army Reservist for almost a decade, gave voice to the frustrations of everyday Americans.

But some saw more than frustration.

When we talked, Hart said she was amazed at the attention she's getting for her remarks, which have overshadowed anything Obama said during the forum. She said her comments and question, which were meant to elicit comforting words from Obama, have become political fodder and have been misconstrued as proof that Obama's die-hard supporters were prepared to abandon him - and do what? Become tea partiers?

"I think he has made progress," she told me. "I just thought by now the progress would be more evident for the man-on-the-street level."

By her own account, Hart's personal finances are in pretty good shape, at least when compared with the almost 44 million people living in poverty. She has a well-paying job s as the chief financial officer for AmVets, a nonprofit Maryland-based veteran services organization. Her husband is employed. She can afford to send two children to private school. She says she and her husband have managed their money well.

Despite the fact that during the broadcast Hart said she worried that soon her family might be forced to dine regularly on hot dogs and beans, she didn't mean that literally. She says she made that statement to add levity to a discussion that isn't funny: the state of our economy.

"It was symbolic," she said. "I'm a lot more fortunate than others." MORE...