Michelle Obama calls for national day of service

Michelle Obama made a pitch for national service over the weekend, calling Americans to join in a national day of service on Jan. 19, the day before the Inauguration.

In a video released on the Obama Inauguration video page, Mrs. Obama said the day of service is timed to coincide with Martin Luther King Day, "a day when we honor a man who lived his life in service to others and showed us what we can accomplish when we stand together."

Obama said she and her husband would spend the day volunteering in Washington, D.C., in the community they now call home. She also pitched a new Web site, www.USAservice.org, where people can sign up to serve or learn more about service in their own communities.

Mrs. Obama said that this would be more than a single day of service and said the Web site would help encourage service in the country even after the Inaugural ceremonies have ended."

In a separate public service announcement, President-elect Obama also called for national service. "America's greatness was not crafted in skyscrapers alone," he said in the video, "but on the ground by those who could see what needed to be done." The incoming president called on Americans to "step forward" and "help renew America."

Just last week, General Colin Powell announced the Obama national service program called Renew America Together