Or am I the only one who read this Jodi Kantor piece about Michelle Obama and thought “Wow, she’s even cooler than I thought.” I thought she came out of it looking great. If people think that is a hit piece, I say bring it on.
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[…] agree with John Cole at Balloon Juice: what some are calling a “hit piece” on Michelle Obama in the NYT made me like her […]
MattF
As an O-bot, my reaction is ‘I’m glad she’s there.’ And I imagine that Obama’s enemies have the opposite reaction and will continue to try to damage her.
Villago Delenda Est
Yeah, my first thought was “Michelle has better political instincts than that fucking asshole Emmanuel.”
debg
I liked the article too, and if Kantor is right about Michelle now having more influence, that’s great. The piece also showed me how Michelle had been right about so many things. If only the staff had listened.
superluminar
I just wasted five minutes reading that article, thanks Cole. So we can conclude that life in the West Wing is often fraught and argumentative, as different advisers advocate different strategies to try and win the political disagreements of the day? You would think someone would’ve made a TV series out of this drama, or something…
Rhoda
No, I think she comes off looking smart and right. I think people are overly sensitive b/c the spin will be she’s another Hillary Clinton. (I don’t know what the hell was wrong with Hillary as First Lady; both incarnations worked for me but then I’m a liberal woman.)
I’m looking forward to reading the book, I ordered it yesterday. Meanwhile, it’s really nice to see that the Obamas have a really committed relationship and what we see seems to be what it is.
Athenae
You know what struck me about it? How much time the Obamas and their teams spend dealing with ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS BULLSHIT that becomes a “crisis” because our political press would rather write about $400 haircuts than $400 billion thievery and $4 trillion wars. A $400 haircut is a “mistake you can’t come back from” but all that shit is fine?
I swear to God, I wouldn’t blame Michelle one bit if she hauled off and punched Gibbs in the face. Can we keep her even if Obama loses the election? Elect the First Lady separately and keep her forever?
A.
DCLaw1
Hatred of Michelle Obama for nonsensical reasons is one of the more distinct shibboleths on the right. It’s quite disturbing, surrounded by the stench of a sour mixture of racism and sexism.
I agree with Cole – the article portrays her as a pretty cool lady and a valuable ally to the president.
lamh35
Even without this article I’ve always been a Michelle Obot. She could literally be my mother, my aunts, my sisters hell even me (without the fitness…lol). You be hard pressed to find an AA man or woman who doesn’t love her and the weeMichelles like they are blood related. As much as we love Obama there are some of us who are ambivalent to him, but Michelle is “the bees knees”. We areprotective of her because she is “us”. So we are def extra sensitive when stories like this come out & any slight is not taken lightly.
For whatever reason slights against Michelle is just more personal to us.
mellowjohn
as a long-time registered voter in IL-5, all i can say is, “my former congressman/current mayor has trouble getting along with other people?”
i’m shocked… shocked, i tells ya!
p.s. didn’t eleanor roosevelt spend a great deal of time nudging fdr to the left?
GregB
What disgusts me is that the wingnut assholes like Santorum, Limbaugh, Gingrich et al are always running off at the mouth about family and pointedly Black families in trouble, and here is the perfect archetype of a wonderful family with a loving father, strong and intelligent mother and lovely children and they never say a word about it.
I love Michelle and to hell with all of the racist fuckers that send out shitty e-mails about her.
cathyx
It just confirms my suspicions. I would be horrible to be the First Lady.
Phil Perspective
@Villago Delenda Est: Exactly the point. It actually gives more ammo to those, like me, who thought Rahmbo was the problem all along.
Lojasmo
I LURV michelle! Off to read the article.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mellowjohn:
As I recall, the line on Rahm (RAHM!) was that he was an asshole, but an effective, competent asshole who would be Obama’s ambassador to Congress. I was surprised he wasn’t a more useful asshole
JPL
Huffington Post’s headline yesterday made it sound like constant fighting but the article itself doesn’t paint that picture. The media will get their talking points from the repubs though and imo, will spin it in a negative way.
gaz
sorry, I don’t bother reading fluff pieces about FLOTUS.
Or attack pieces either. It’s irrelevant.
I never carried a subscription to People Magazine either.
There’s enough non-news out there without hitting the broadsheets and gossip columns.
Thanks though
Zandar
*eyes Cole*
*cracks knuckles*
Svensker
Yes, John, had the same reaction. Michelle is great, Rahm is an arsehole. But also, too, Michelle is a super person and a wonderful First Lady. Always liked her but after reading that I’m a real fan.
SiubhanDuinne
I read the article very early this morning and it only reinforced my admiration of this FLOTUS. Am eager to read the book. I’m whiter than Wonder Bread, and am old enough to (barely) remember FDR and Eleanor in the White House, but I can’t think of a First Lady I’ve identified with or admired so unreservedly as Michelle Obama. Mama Robinson did a fine job.
@lamh35: I love that term “the weeMichelles,” so cute.
Phil Perspective
@debg: Rahmbo listen to a woman? Hahaha!! It wouldn’t come as a surprise if people remember he spent most of his time in the House trying to undermine(with Steny Hoyer’s help) Nancy Pelosi. Rahm is just a big flaming pile of dog poo.
WereBear
And rightly so. Because she’s not a politician; she should be “off limits.” She is a wife and mom and health promoter.
lamh35
@Rhoda:
I think it’s a little different. The spin on Hilary was spin, but no one used Hilary to stereotype white women did they?
Nope, Michelle O not only gets the First Lady treatment, but she also gets stereotypical BS thrown at her that would never be thrown at any other First lady because of her being the 1st AA first lady.
I think that all the RW BS over Michelle steams from those stereotypes more than anything else.
Schlemizel
@MattF:
No, I am not an Obot (not a hater either though) and all I can say is it looks like once again we would be better off if the first lady were president. Thats probably the reality of having to do what it takes to get the job.
Ming
@JPL: The article seems to try to frame the WH as kind of a hotbed of disagreement, inner circle in array, oh noes! but yes, the concrete details seem like no big thang — healthy, even. Gosh, someone once swore at someone else? people are vehemently disagreeing?
strange, wasn’t there another President who was famous for welcoming opposing points of view, whose inner circle was characterized as a “Team of Rivals?” skinny guy from Illinois, lawyer…
SBJules
@mellowjohn: Yes Eleanor spent a lot of time pushing fdr to the left. But I’m a Michelle obot perhaps I should say an Obama family Obot.
WereBear
@JPL: I thought the Huffpo excerpt strikes an entirely different tone than this article, which I found flattering to FLOTUS.
Donut
Read that piece last night and left it feeling like it comfirmed/reaffirmed my impressions of her. Always thought Obama made a mistake bringing in Rahm, too, and that it was a bad choice to hide M.O. away in the first months of the Admin. Kinda always thought that was a holdover from the Clinton days and a wrong-headed attempt to be Not-Hillary. She is such a great spokesperson for Democrats. This First Lady is a force to be reckoned with and her husband’s greatest asset, at times. There is a reason why Greater Wingnuttia is so threatened by her. Can’t wait to see her on the stump more this year. Hopeful too that she may come back here to IL and challenge Mark Kirk and take back Barack’s Senate seat…
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
She has the same talent that Eleanor Roosevelt had in knowing how to get the resources to help people.
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh35:
This.
The right wing can’t get past the melanin count. They just can’t. You can’t make them eat healthier to save their own wretched lives.
gaz
@superluminar: w00t, FTW.
Slow news day here at BJ I guess =)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WereBear: HuffPo is all concern-troll, all the time. Being so old I remember when Arianna Huffington founded a “think tank” to promote Newt Gingrich’s social reforms (orphanages were his big thing at the time) called “the Center For Effective Compassion”, I take everything associated with her with a healthy sprinkle of pink Himalayan salt.
Svensker
@lamh35:
Every time I hear Tub O’ Lard Limbaugh has har harred over Michelle’s “big butt” I want to kill someone, preferably Limbaugh. They don’t even bother with the dog whistles anymore, they’re using the air raid siren.
handsmile
Whatever misgivings may have crept in about her husband, I have been and remain a fierce M-Bot. There has been no more accomplished and inspiring First Lady in my 50+ years.
The racism that has always been an undercurrent (at times an overcurrent) in the appraisal of the Obama presidency never seems more starkly evident than in the recurrent calumnies directed at Michelle Obama.
FridayNext
@lamh35:
Howell Cobb, a Southern politician during the Civil War had this to say about possibly arming slaves to fight for the South:
“You cannot make soldiers of slaves, or slaves of soldiers. The day you make a soldier of them is the beginning of the end of the Revolution. And if slaves seem good soldiers, then our whole theory of slavery is wrong.”
I think there is an existential threat to many Americans to have a SUCCESSFUL African-American family in the White House. In their minds it just can’t happen if they are to retain their world views and identities. That the two became successful, individually and as a team, at a time when they are trying to frame a narrative of AA dependance on government, preferring handouts to paychecks, flies in the face of their most cherished myths of black communities’ relationship to government and white people. To paraphrase the above, if blacks can seem good parents and politicians, then their whole theory of racial America is wrong.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I hate the whole notion of the “first lady/family”. and as I turn on MSNBC, Alex Witt is, for some reason, interviewing John Huntsman’s daughters.
Nikki
We all knew the first black family in the White House would have to be above reproach. We hit it out of the park with the Obamas. It’s personal because, women being the bedrock of the AA family, Michelle, as FLOTUS, represents our uber-Matriarch. Insults and slights cast her way are insults and slights made against the Black Family as a whole. I doubt Obama inspires nearly as much loyalty as Michelle.
Kola Noscopy
I read this last night and thought “damn, I wish she would have run for president to begin with.”
That said, it is always disconcerting to read these political pieces that portray presidents as amiable dunces whose agendas and outcomes are almost completely shaped by the actions of those around them.
Not surprised at all to read suspicions that Emmanuel is a douche confirmed. But then again, as with the Goldman Sachs boys he loves so much, Obama picked him so what does that tell us about Obama?
Valdivia
This piece wasn’t John but go read the HuffPo piece on it and see the way the Village will run with it.
Kola Noscopy
@DCLaw1:
Racimysogitorum?
Villago Delenda Est
@FridayNext:
This. This. This.
Absolutely right. The theory of race appears…ZOMG!…to be totally wrong.
Not to worry. Intellectual dishonesty is a prerequisite for being a wingtard.
JPL
Debbie Wassermann Schultz will be on Fox News Sunday and Axelrod will be on This Week tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if they are asked about the book.
Kola Noscopy
Overall, I agree with the commenter above who said the American concept of the “first family/lady, etc” is stupid. Seems very retro-50s to me.
Michelle Obama is an accomplished attorney in her own right. I’d like to see a male president either give a wife such as her an official, paid position in the Wh and the haters be damned, or she should be free to pursue her own career as she was doing before. Howard Dean’s wife was a great template for a sane view of the first lady. She let him do his run for president thang, and she did her doctor thang; no big deal.
Naturally, she and Howard were crucified for it. I wish both of them had fought back hard for the strategy they had adopted.
Marc
@Athenae:
This.
JPL
@Kola Noscopy: Jill Biden is a professor and still teaches.
Kola Noscopy
The commenters here over-identifying with the FLOTUS in an inappropriately personal way don’t help things…that kind of sentimental garbage is too Evita-ish and always leads to problems when the adored one is revealed to have -gasp!- human flaws.
Whomever first noted that Americans may have a pseudo, sorta democracy, but we long for a royal family, was right on the mark. What’s that about?
feebog
What came across to me is the balance in the relationship between the Obamas. Lets remeber first of all that Michelle is every bit as smart and accomplished as her husband. If I recall, they met when she was already a practicing attorney and he was an intern at the same law firm. It is apparent that Obama respects her intelect and insight over and above anyone on his staff. Telling that three years into the administration that Rahm and Gibbs are gone, but Valarie Jarret is still there.
WaterGirl
@JPL: Oh my gosh, maybe those shows have new booking agents who don’t realize Schultz and Axelrod are democrats?
Or maybe the shows plan on discussing the book about the Obamas, so they feel obligated to include some democrats. Unlike when the subject is politics, when all they need are republicans.
Amir Khalid
I agree with the consensus here” the story just doesn’t reflect at all badly on the First Lady. One does see her chafing at the restrictions that being the President’s wife imposes, but she’s not acting out or trying to sabotage his presidency out of petulance. In fact she’s watching his back, fiercely and with more savvy than some White house staffers realize.
Off-topic: When I see a “gaffe” like this from John McCain, I tend to think that he only endorsed Mitt so that he could get close enough to to fire at Mitt’s campaign from inside the lines. Either that, or as a TPM commenter suggests, McCain is showing the onset of senile dementia.
Schlemizel
@FridayNext:
Nice catch – I think you hit the nail pretty good there. It would be terribly upsetting if you actually believe welfare only causes dependency and AAs can only succeed via affirmative action and then have to deal with this reality. Maybe we are seeing the death throes of this movement?
John S.
If you’re so infatuated with Michelle and so despondent over Barack, then your line of questioning is totally irrational.
Obama picked Michelle so what does that tell us about Obama?
Michelle picked Obama so what does that tell us about Michelle?
No matter the answer to any of these questions, what it really tells us is that you’re a useless troll. But we all know that already.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kola Noscopy:
Stop projecting your pathologies on everyone else, or, in the alternative, take a long walk off a short pier.
Thank you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kola Noscopy: Uh huh. Tell us again about “Howard” being “crucified”.
Rhoda
@lamh35, Yes, ITA about the angry black lady and the subtext that she doesn’t know how to act (or her place) as we saw with the brouha about her wearing shorts to the Grand Canyon. But, Kantor doesn’t do that.
What gets me is that clearly POTUS is the one calling the final shots and has created a team loyal to him that brings its game face to the fights at hand. Obama doesn’t get enough credit for his people skills and how he understands how to manipulate others. He also seems determined to stay sane, sane famous people have a small group and don’t buy the hype.
Linda Featheringill
I don’t remember any First Lady saying it was an easy gig. Most of them showed obvious signs of severe stress.
That Michelle can use this stress as a vehicle for growth is very, very admirable.
Hill Dweller
@WereBear: With the exception of a couple of inadvertent clicks on links here, I haven’t been to HuffPo since they were bought/merged. Their absurd headlines, which never seemed to match the tone/substance of the articles, had already become extremely annoying, but Arianna’s opportunism was the last straw.
The NYT’s article wasn’t bad(although the timing of the book seems designed to inflict the most damage), but I suspect other media will try and take the more salacious route.
That said, Michelle Obama is popular and well liked, even by people who aren’t fans of her husband. She has been a very good First Lady, which is, if anything, all she owes the public. I don’t think any of this will hurt her. Hell, several of the things in the NYT article(which, by the way, was contradictory in places) made her more endearing.
amk
This must be the first presidential couple to be parsed to death every minute of the day.
JPL
@WaterGirl: It’s their annual visit so don’t get to excited.
The President and First Lady have been called everything. It’s now common to use the word treason with Barack as well as communist, socialist, and fascist. The only thing I haven’t heard them called is white supremacists. Although the President have been compared to Hitler so there’s that.
JPL
ugh..I’m in moderation for using that dru.g…..
DCLaw1
@Kola Noscopy: I tip my hat, Good Sir/Madam.
Suffern ACE
I clicked on the article yesterday expecting to find some kind of insider National Enquirer story about a Temper Tantrum “REAL” Michelle They Don’t Let You See It’s All An Act Only Republican First Ladies Are Real Ladies hit piece, but the best I get is that the FLOTUS has from time to time “fumed.”
Kola Noscopy
@John S.:
useful enough to get a response for a useless troll lover such as yourself. Also too, DIAF fueled by flaming rusty pitchforks inserted in your arse.
Kola Noscopy
@Villago Delenda Est:
as you would know if you were a rational observer, the pathology is in the hero-worship of political figures and their family members
go find heroes in your real life and quite expecting Michelle to live out your royal family fantasies.
My guess is that in private she would have no patience with blubbering sentimentalists such as yourself. She seems tough as nails, in a good way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kola Noscopy: What does the fact that Obama married Michelle say about him?
Kola Noscopy
@Omnes Omnibus:
If she is truly as she appears to be in this article, then it reflects well on him.
On the other hand, why do you think BO’s good sense in selecting a life partner doesn’t carry over into his professional life? The Goldman Sachs boys, Rahm Emmanuel, for god’s sake Joe Leiberman as a mentor god help us…
Valdivia
@Ming:
this! why does disagreement have to be a bad thing? it’s the cult of yes men in the village
Mino
He, he, he. This has been a bad week to be a Republican. Obama is darting them from several directions. The economy appears a tad better. Iran is embarrassed. Santorum is reminding voters of the worse of wingnuttery. An now this book to remind folks of their favorite in the White House.
The spinners are dizzy.
wobblybits
@Omnes Omnibus: Hush, you’re fucking up his narrative.
Gust Avrakotos
I read the whole thing carefully and it sure as hell reads like a hit piece to me.
It’s not just a hit piece though. It’s trying to paint the behind the scenes stuff as a big dramatic soap opera. That just doesn’t jive with the whole no drama Obama thing all his staffers speak of.
Corner Stone
@Zandar: What’s the matter droneboy? Got something you want to get off your chest?
SiubhanDuinne
@Maude: Yes, quite so. And she comes across, even in candid photos, as very caring and approachable. I think she really listens and connects and then, as you say, does everything she can to get the right resources where they need to go, as efficiently as possible. it must be frustrating for her (really, anyone in that position) to be so insulated. I’m glad she’s pushing back as much as possible. I think she’s great.
Liberal Sandlapper
I thought the article was fine and will buy the book. But, I am a huge Obama fan, period. That means ALL of them. Fuck anybody who doesn’t like that attitude.
And why in the hell does anybody read fucking Huffington Post anyway?
gnomedad
@Nikki:
This, this, this! At least some of the slurs directed at the Prez have tenuous ties to reality (e.g., his father was Kenyan), but the stuff thrown at Michelle seems even more to be coming from a Magic 8-Ball of racism and sexism, like they’re panicking at the very concept of someone like her.
Gust Avrakotos
@Liberal Sandlapper: Got me, Fluffington Puff has turned into just another firebagger site. It adds absolutely no value to what is actually going on around us imho. I haven’t been back there in probably a year. I refuse to click on any links to it just as I do Politico.
Kilkee
It will be read by the racist asses who hate Michelle as supporting their preordained notion of her as a domineering, emasculating black woman. Full stop.
BruceFromOhio
@Villago Delenda Est: dingdingdingding. Good riddance, Mr Mayor.
They (the First Family) will be fine. And Michelle Obama is the picture of elegance, so eminently real and approachable, not just as a First Lady, but as a human being confronted with the shove and run of politics and governance.
And I really like seeing them together – that one they got right.
I agree, if this is construed as a “hit piece”, bring it on. I look forward to the book!
batgirl
@Donut:
Yes, Rahm & holdovers from the Clinton days in people, philosophy, and political strategy were a negative for the Obama administration. Of course, for a new president looking for Democrats with presidential experience, the Clinton days was it. I know its useless but I can’t help wondering what if…
As for the article, I had the same reaction of John and others here: FLOTUS awesome! Rahm ugh!
gnomedad
I love this photo (I think someone posted it here earlier; too lazy to search).
BruceFromOhio
@Kilkee: Well, that’s what is kind of predictable about racists asshats, no matter what is presented or how. Their loss!
Linda Featheringill
@Gust Avrakotos:
What? A no-drama guy marries a passionate woman? It happens.
Kola Noscopy
Or, ya know…they’re insults and slights cast her way. You’re personalizing and over-identifying and making the Obamas’ jobs a hundred times harder by making it all about YOU.
howie in seattle
I am a local blogger/nobody who has spend several hours in the company of both Rahm and Michelle Obama, on separate occasions. If you believe in heaven and hell, this was it.
Linda Featheringill
@Kilkee:
If that is so, it must be noted that the whole goddamned world has not succeeded in emasculating Barack.
Valdivia
Whoever is putting Gibbs as someone who was against Michelle is totally wrong. he is one fo the few people who is the inner circle from the old days with Obama. Gibbs left after so many years to be an outside voice for the team!
Gust Avrakotos
@Valdivia: Yea, the Gibbs caricature that article paints seems way off to me.
Davis X. Machina
It’s not just the Puff Ho. I wasn’t sure what to think, so I went to find out the real deal. Answer: She’s so cool, she should be the president, and not Obama.
Then we’d have a real progressive president. Ok, it wouldn’t have been as cool as not screwing up the first time, and failing to elect Hillary. But still pretty cool.
geg6
Despite the sour grapes of pathologically stupid and hostile assholes, FLOTUSes are quite important in the history of this country. Many of them have been intimately involved in developing policy and setting agendas. Hell, Edith Wilson was essentially the president after Wilson had his stroke. The idea that there is no reason to try to understand them is simply another form of misogyny. I mean, who cares about the little woman, right?
That said, my all-time favorite FLOTUS used to be Betty Ford. Loved her and her honesty and willingness to say what she thought. She was the best thing about ol’ Jerry. But Michelle has zoomed to the top, just barely beating out Betty in my ratings. Mainly because she has had to operate in the poisoned atmosphere of the racism the Right has aimed so incessantly at her husband, herself and her lovely children. She is smart, beautiful, fit, compassionate and a great wife and mother. That she can combine that with a touch Eleanor Roosevelt policy chops is just icing on the cake. There is no prominant person in America who I admire more.
Valdivia
@Gust Avrakotos:
this is why I think this is what the article is about. people are just going to read their prejudices into it, like the idea that Gibbs was not progressive because he was against Dean now they are making him into an enemy of Michelle!
FridayNext
@Valdivia:
IMHO, one of the most ridiculous rituals of the general election campaign is when a candidate chooses a running mate and then everyone scours every quote, vote, and position of both people and over analyze every possible area of conflict and grill both people about how those issues will be resolved. And for some reason the candidates always twist both or either position into pretzels to make it look like they actually agree or maybe one has changed his/her mind for perfectly legitimate reasons etc etc. No one ever says the obvious. Of course they disagree. They will continue to disagree on particulars, maybe even foundational philosophies. All teams do. All bosses of all types, assuming they haven’t surrounded themselves with yes-men and sycophants, have staff that disagree with them. Sometimes emotionally and loudly. A good boss listens and then makes a decisions. That’s how good teams work. That’s how productive boss/bossed relationships work. But no one ever says that. (Or rarely, I am not such a politics junkie that I follow every utterance) Every area of disagreement is glossed over and all discussion and argument is portrayed as dysfunctional. I hate it. I know this will get pushback, but I actually thought GWB’s whole “I am the decider” quote was on the right track if inelegantly and, well, idiotically, expressed.
Good leaders, including presidents, allow discussion, debate, and argument among their teams and especially with themselves. But they ultimately have to make the decision and, to coin a phrase, the buck stops with them. Maybe newsrooms run with some sort of alien dynamic I am unaware of, but I have never understood why we go through this dance.
Valdivia
and now we have the stream of articles saying Michelle is the one who would be the real progressive while Obama is the weakling republican. ugh. will this never end!!!!
@FridayNext: exactly!!! thank you for pointing that out.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Davis X. Machina: @Valdivia: It is fascinating to see, again and again and again, the marble-headed refusal/inability to recognize that there are institutions besides the Presidency that influence politics. To be at once so passionate and willfully, determinedly ignorant about politics, it must give them headaches.
Cacti
Michelle has carried herself with nothing but grace, class, and dignity since she entered the role of FLOTUS.
It’s such a sharp contrast with her chief hater, a thrice-divorced, vulgar, pill junkie with a radio show.
Liberal Sandlapper
@Valdivia: I take it that is a rhetorical question? Of course it will never stop. Just like the bullshit “if we had just elected Hilary” will never stop. Fucking drama queens, all.
BruceFromOhio
@amk: The Clinton’s got raked over pretty well, too, as I recall. Different circumstances, different times, but similar brands of stupid bullshit from the “insiders” and the fucking criminal gasbags with microphones. And I agree with @lamh35, the bar is set higher with MO.
Kola Noscopy
@Liberal Sandlapper:
And this is why anything you write on the subject of Obama has zero credibility.
Hill Dweller
@Kola Noscopy:
Do you have an ounce of self-awareness? Do you honestly think your incessant antagonism engenders credibility?
Davis X. Machina
@Hill Dweller: On matters related to pie, as inerrant as the pope. Everything else, not so much
Pillsy
I’m going to throw in with the crowd and say that calling that a “hit piece” is bonkers. There’s little in there that’s shocking, the only person who really comes off like an asshole is Rahm Emmanuel (and c’mon, even people who think Emmanuel isn’t so bad know he’s a complete asshole), and it simultaneously humanizes Michelle Obama and portrays her as very formidable.
Also, the whole, “But what if people thinks she’s like Hilary!?” is bizarre given that Hilary Clinton has been the Secretary of State for three years.
Valdivia
@Liberal Sandlapper:
yeah totally rhetorical but totally expressive of my exasperation! :)
geg6
Funny how our resident troll questions others’ credibility when his misogyny is so prominently on display in this thread.
Why do you hate women, especially Michelle Obama, so much, dude? So much that you think FLOTUS is just a cipher and should not even be seen, let alone heard? Must be mother issues.
slag
I love Michelle Obama! Often times, she’s the only attribute of the President that proves that he’s not a pure political animal. She’s real.
superluminar
@Valdiva
“Will this never end?”
Well I’ll channel Fed Up In Brooklyn and say it’ll have a better chance of ending if the Repubs take over all branches of government, and then the revolution will surely happen!
Brachiator
I think that Mrs Obama is great, and the article confirms it.
However, too much of it also seems to be little more than another proxy war in the lame battle of supposed progressives against Obama.
I guess if I could work up any outrage about it, I could also see wisps of “draft Hillary” crap in the article. It’s almost like “remember the good old days when Bill and Hillary were co-presidents? She sure was good on progressive policy. Sigh. If only we could get Hillary to run…”
I did find very interesting how the Obamas react to the confinement of the White House. It even makes sense that President Obama does not find Camp David to be sufficient refuge. Having grown up in Hawaii it would make sense that the president would prefer wide open spaces, islands and oceans.
I also find it interesting that despite all the crap that is heaped on the Obamas about being aloof and elitist, they are uncomfortable with having people serve them and cater to them. They also seem to prefer just having a main home for themselves and family. I wonder how many second homes someone like Romney has? And didn’t the McCains have multiple residences?
El Cid
I thought Michelle Obama was too busy taking everyone’s hamburger away and making them eat nothing but her organic Black Panther / ACORN arugula and bean pies?
ruemara
@Hill Dweller: You should really pass on engaging him. Really.
On Topic. I rather liked the article. I see it’s not that very subtle insinuation that Mich O is the True Progressive™ in the White House, which is silly. She has no need to deal with actual legislation, Congress, polly ticks, et al, so she can push from the left, right, center, some where in south Uzbeckistanstan. If she were Pres and this was a book about the FHOTUS, you’d see the same level of relevant blog chatter. Worth about as much as an asshole. I do identify with the First Family, mostly because I know that the scrutiny is double for any faux pas, issues, anything at all. It isn’t fair to be the spokesperson, even in a friendly room. The official Black First Family shite is an honour and a burden, so I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m just glad she done so damn well in the glare.
Alison
@Kola Noscopy:
So, people can only have credibility on another person if they despise that person?
I guess I should get to work on my biography of you then. It’ll be the most trusted work of non-fiction ever penned.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator:
Oh, I’m so glad you brought this up
I’m not among those who think Obama is a shoe-in, but I do feel some guarded optimism when I see what a tin ear Willard has on this particular issue, at this particular time. I knew a lot of people who, well into their twenties, were utterly clueless about how privileged and cosseted their lives had been. It beggars belief that at 65, having spent the last twenty years in a desperate and public quest for public office, he doesn’t have enough self-awareness to downplay his wealth, much less to not make jokes about being “unemployed”.
Emma
@Kola Noscopy: My opinion about your age/educational level keeps being dropped by 10 years or so every time you post. You don’t understand the concept of the “race man/woman”? AAs have had to live with it all their lives, and all their ancestors’ lives. Every time an AA person gets a “first” attached to their names, they are scrutinized as representatives of the race as a whole.Try googling “Jackie Robinson”.
g
@Kola Noscopy: Oh for fuck’s sake. Are you saying that only someone absolutely completed neutral to their subject can have credibility? Where do you find such a creature?
John S.
Aw, did I strike a nerve calling out your blatant bullshit? Poor widdle troll. It must get lonely underneath that bridge.
El Cid
If it were the case, it wouldn’t be at all surprising that the First Lady were a driving progressive / more liberal / whatever than the President.
Eleanor Roosevelt was all that and more, and actively engaged in policymaking and other efforts, above and beyond pressuring her husband — including at times being an effective surrogate to make connections to people and movements who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t have directly met with FDR.
dww44
@Valdivia: Without reading the article, my own independent take on Robert Gibbs, discerned from his many press conferences and interviews, is that he really isn’t a progressive. Early on, he’s the one who made me the maddest, because he came across as dismissive and unsupporting of the progressives who worked their tails off to elect the President. And, this was less than 5 months into Obama’s Presidency. In my view, he’s a centrist, period. Perhaps he may have just reflected the actual positions of his boss, but still….
g
organic Black Panther / ACORN arugula and bean pies
Mmmmm! Served with Dijon mustard?
Villago Delenda Est
@Kola Noscopy:
You exhibit all the characteristics of the wingtards who denounce Obama as “our Lord and Savior”. You are projecting, and it shows, badly.
You’re projecting your own intense desire for a cult of personality around someone (probably that fuckwit Nader) onto people who simply admire someone, don’t worship them.
Now, I’d be FAR more critical of Michelle Obama if she were pushing, say, the vile poison that is the lima bean instead of healthy, flavorful broccoli and brussels sprouts. Not to mention cheeseburgers!
dww44
@Cacti: This:
How can any sentient being listen to Limbaugh and give him any sort of credence? ED Schultz did a good take down last night on Limbaugh’s sheer hypocrosy (and lying) vis-a-vis Obama’s recess appointments versus those of GWB.
kay
My take-away was that they saw they were going to lose big in 2010, and so everyone was blaming each other, which is normal, but, call me crazy, I don’t really agree with the idea that it’s Michelle Obama’s fault that Democrats lost.
This:
They’re really blaming Michelle Obama? Bitching that she “only” did 8 events, or whatever?
It’s their job to win midterm elections, not hers. If that’s the point she was trying to make, if that’s what “appeasing” her by offering “planning and precision” means, she’s right to insist they do their jobs.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to blame her. Michelle Obama lost the midterms? Had she just done NINE events….okey-doke. Makes sense to me.
Laura Bush campaigned for Republicans in ’06. I didn’t hear the highly paid campaign professionals in the GOP bitching that she LOST. Jesus. What blame-shifting nonsense.
Brachiator
@El Cid:
Ha! Really liked the bean pies bit.
Valdivia
@dww44: and this is my point. that now this book is a proxy for hunting all the not true progressives! this just confirms whatever you believe so now you can say a-ha! I knew it. it’s all gossipy bs. He was a very effective guy during the campaign and he will be very effective in this one whatever we believe about him. The point is that he was in some way an agent against Mrs Obama is total bs!
Valdivia
@kay:
thank you Kay! this is also a great point.
pamelabrown
@Kola Noscopy: It’s easy to be a “huge Obama fan” without agreeing with every policy decision. I’ve read the president’s books, follow his speeches and actions and I admire his character and consistency. At times I’ve disagreed with a policy decision or action only to find that I was caught up in the moment instead of having the patience/attention span to find out I was chicken littling without an eye for the longer term. There are decisions that after time with which I still disagree. So what, I’m pretty far left and this is not Shangri-La.
It saddens me that a person can hide behind an anonymous name like “Kola Noscopy” and just throw turds in the punchbowl. To me, it’s YOUR credibility that is in question.
CT Voter
@FridayNext:
This. A thousand times over.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kay: I’m also dubious on the effect either Obama had/could have had. Obama held huge rallies, with thousands of people in attendance, in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, didn’t help. Alexi Giannoulias had banker taint on him and couldn’t beat Mark Freakin’ Kirk. Fold all this in with generations old trends in mid-term voting, and you get the shellacking. I would think, and I truly hope, the DNC has some people trying to figure out how the hell you boost turn out in mid-terms. I really think it’s one of the biggest factors in Blue Doggery and the fucked-up Senate
Scott
@gnomedad: Yes, the thought of a stable, successful, two parent AA family is an absolute threat to the right wing. In fact, in direct opposite of their bleatings, they don’t want AA (or anybody else) to be successful because they wouldn’t have anybody to be superior to.
CT Voter
@kay: “She agreed to do 8 events”. “She basically did nothing.”
That pissed me off royally. Screw you, you “aide”. With “aides” like this tattling to a reporter, who needs Fox?
g
I’d be FAR more critical of Michelle Obama if she were pushing, say, the vile poison that is the lima bean instead of healthy, flavorful broccoli and brussels sprouts.
Try Greek-style lima beans. You’ll be converted.
Valdivia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I was at the DNC volunteering believe me, they were on it! the tide was too strong to counter. Also the–I am not going to vote as revenge because I didn’t get my pony or why bother things was real. I hard it on the phone a lot.
But when i called upstate ny one district we won it was worth it to keep calling and making the effort!
dww44
@Valdivia: Like I said, I haven’t read the article and won’t be looking at it just to confirm my own independent and early on assessment of Mr. Gibbs and his lack of progressive bona fides. So, I shouldn’t really be your prima facie example of those who look to the article to reinforce their own prejudices. My opinion about Mr. Gibbs is founded in the reality of his public appearances and pronouncements. Perhaps it would help if I point out that my Democratic roots go almost as far back as SiubhanDuinne’s do. I do remember Truman as President. You know, back when progressives were truly liberal! ;)
No doubt Gibbs’ loyalty to the First Family is unassailable. I’ve no issue with that. But he’s still a centrist, perhaps with slight liberal leanings, otherwise why would he be a Democrat? We are the big tent, are we not?
kay
@CT Voter:
I think it’s really common after losing. Ted Strickland, Ohio gov, who I supported and (tried) to help re-elect in 2010 wrote this big bitter screed after he lost (also published on the Huffington Post) where he essentially blamed Obama for his loss.
I just think it’s useless and stupid and a really transparent dodge. I could point to about 20 things that might have “caused” Ted Strickland to lose, and 19 of them were things Ted Strickland did or didn’t do. One would hope people would look to their own work if they’re doing some sort of post-disaster analysis for the “good of the team”, or whatever the rationale is, but they never seem to. They’re always helpfully pointing out flaws in other people, I’ve noticed :)
CT Voter
@kay: Maybe because it’s pretty hard to admit you might have been the reason you lost, and probably a thousand times harder to do that in public, no less. This applies to politicians who manage to maintain a shred of humanity, though.
sukabi
@Athenae: agree Gibbs and the rest of the assholes need to be punched in the face… and Michelle is a wonderful First Lady with very good political instincts…
Liberal Sandlapper
@Kola Noscopy: As if your opinion of anything matters in the slightest to me. My dog took a shit this morning that had more intelligence than you display in your comments.
kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I agree. They were doing the same organizing they did in ’08. I went to the Ohio State rally and they were collecting voter contacts, etc, and there was a giant crowd, but they just got slaughtered.
With Strickland as the notable (and disappointing) exception, there wasn’t a whole lot of blaming here, which was a relief.
dogwood
I think books like this exemplify why every president becomes so isolated. The petty infightinhg that undoubtedly goes on in every administration reflects the narcissistic egos of the professional “aide” class. We tend to dwell on the egos of the politicians, but the real viper’s nest in politics is with the subordinates and hangers on. A few pissants who want to feel important decide to get at the president through his wife. It wouldn’t surprise me if these were Clinton folks, because that was pretty common in the 1990’s. As far as Rahm goes, despite being an asshole, he’s just about the only ex-Clintonite who didin’t write at tell-all or engage in backbiting against his own team. I’ll certainly give him credit for that.
Also, someone earlier mentioned that Robert Gibbs wasn’t really a progressive. I don’t think ideological purity is the first requirement for the job of press secretary.
kay
@CT Voter:
I have so much trouble with Arianna Huffington as the self-selected voice of the lower and middle class.
Maybe I’m too conventional. Maybe an incredibly wealthy cable regular and former Republican who doesn’t pay the peons who bring her big bucks on that site is the best person “we” can find for that role, but I don’t think so.
She’s syndicated, and in my local newspaper. She’s the liberal. Lucky me.
A Humble Lurker
@Corner Stone:
Greenwald says hi, and says you left your underwear over at his place last night.
On topic, I generally don’t go in for gossipy things like this. There’s no telling how much you can actually read into them, and there’s never anything interesting anyway.
dww44
@kay: Gosh, I didn’t know she’s syndicated. My local paper syndicates no female pseudo-liberals. I keep writing them to say, add Gail Collins (don’t know if she’s syndicated, but gol-durned Brooks is), but they never listen. I might have more success with a former Republican, as that’s the lay of the land in these parts.
wrb
@Liberal Sandlapper:
A firebag won’t stay inflated on its own.
Lojasmo
@Kola Noscopy:
It tells me obama will tolerate douchebaggery for effective arm-twisting in congress.
In other words, he’s a pragmatist, as all aware people understand.
kay
@dww44:
She is syndicated. She’s in Ohio newspapers.
I think the local paper chose Huffington because the editorial page was 100% conservative and they chose the liberal who was the least appealing and persuasive.
I would be fine with it if she was just wealthy. I have trouble with this crusade for the working class coming from someone who makes a lot of money off people she doesn’t pay. I can’t square those two things, try as I might. Can we have someone from Talking Points Memo be the token liberal media mogul on cable? They pay the people who make them money, and they actually get results from their (original) reporting on wrongdoing and such.
Mino
@dogwood: Not only was Gibbs dismissive and unsupportive of progressives, he was way too easy on reporters spouting force-fed talking points.
Carney gives them zingers. I don’t know if Carney is more progressive or not, but he doesn’t coddle idiots.
eemom
Yay Michelle. Fuck Arianna.
Lojasmo
@Davis X. Machina:
Ah, so you’re a Hillary dead-Ender. Thought I caught a whiff of 2008 scat in your “white man in a suit” shuffle.
Take it back to the corner, retard.
AA+ Bonds
Yeah thanks for the update from Versailles, idolizing the spouses of Presidents is fucked up and should not happen
gwangung
Dang. Way too many points to say “This” to.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Lojasmo: The Davis Machine, it snarks drily.
Are you referring to Alegre’s Corner? She and her fellow loons provided some great entertainment at MyDD during the primary. I just looked over there, and apparently Taylor Marsh is still blogging. Who knew?
Suffern ACE
@dogwood: I agree with the “aide” and “adviser” rot. One of the things I came across during google search on this topic was an anonymous (LOL. I’d have courage if it wasn’t for my career!) interview with a former “adviser” in 2010 after the election who was basically spewing all of the “Obama is lazy” “He’s thin skinned” “Hilary would have been better” “Plays golf to much” talking points and talking about the strains the presidency was placing on the marriage. I was wondering what exactly was this person doing out of a job in the White House, given that he feel exempt from the idea that he needs to show respect for his boss in any way, yet doesn’t have enough courage to put his name on the record. The more people like that accuse the president of being “aloof”, the more I’m thinking he’s only suffering the fools he has to suffer, and if you’re not one of those fools, you get a polite conversation about sports and get shown the door.
BruceFromOhio
@kay: AAAAAAAAAAUGHHHHH ! OH Dems totally screwed the pooch in ’10. After all the insipid idiocy of the early decade, the blatant dog-whistling leading up to the ’10 elections, it was astonishing to watch the Ohio Democratic Party not only cave to the fear-, race- and hate-mongering, but to seemingly flee before it and hand the state BACK to these fucking neanderthals. “Oh, boo-hoo, we didn’t realize Kasich was so bad! wah wah wah!”
Gaia slay me as I stand with shaking fists of rage, *I* bloody knew it, clear as Gaia-damned day, and I’m just another bloody Bruce from Ohio.
And fuck the Huffington Post. Fucking shit-house rats.
Sorry for the OT rant. Michelle Obama is awesome.
Kane
Vets: Michelle Best-Ever First Lady
usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/12/30/vets-michelle-best-ever-first-lady?msg=1
It was good to find this article recognizing the work that Michelle Obama is doing for veterans and military families. There has been too little media attention to this story. Michelle and Jill Biden could have chosen any number of worthy causes to make their own, so it’s admirable to see that they have made veterans and military families a priority.
I suppose that I shouldn’t be shocked, but some of the comments from those on the right at the linked article are filled with such haterd for Michelle Obama. I don’t understand where that comes from.
kwAwk
I read this article and think this is Obama’s staff’s way of saying to the first lady, that if she wants a voice in the White House and to be able to criticize everybody else, then she should put some skin in the game when called upon.
Grab a mop if you will.
I can imagine that faced with similar circumstances in 2010 when all hell was breaking out for Democrats, Bill Clinton as first gentleman would have done 158 campaign events with House Democrats as opposed to 8.
henqiguai
@El Cid (#104):
Those were/are Nation of Islam bean pies. Damn, those things were good! Bought a couple every time they were available in a local bodega.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kane:
Really? She is African-American. She is a smart, well-educated, and successful woman in her own right. Moreover, liberals like her. Any one of these would do. I don’t understand why these things would cause them to hate her, but I guess I am just not enough of a hateful asshole.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kwAwk: But would he have been as effective in 2010 as he was saving Joe Lieberman’s ass in 2006?
kwAwk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Have you forgotten that Obama endorsed Lieberman too?
Brachiator
@kwAwk:
Bill Clinton should have done, and should do, more campaigning for Obama.
What he might have done as First Gentleman is an irrelevant fantasy.
Suffern ACE
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He was recovering from major heart surgery in 2010 and talking about his vegan diet. In a country where people dig in their heels when told to eat vegetables, I don’t know how well the newly hippie Bill would have gone over.
kwAwk
@Brachiator:
To this day I think Bill Clinton would do just about anything Obama’s campaign asked him to do to help with his re-election.
Would Michelle Obama?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kwAwk: Did he fly to CT two days before the primary, do huge splashy events vouching for Joe’s liberal bona fides, and record robocalls for Lieberman? My memory’s fuzzy.
kwAwk
talkleft.com/story/2006/04/02/164/90446
A little less fuzzy now?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kwAwk: Check the dates. You’re comparing this obscure speech in March, when Ned Lamont was at about two percent, to Bubba’s balls out, big media rescue mission two days before the primary?
I do like to know exactly what kind of idiots our trolls are. You’re a PUMA, the asshole troll is a Delusional Deaniac. This has been a revealing thread.
Yutsano
@kwAwk:
You just hurt me with your dogwhistle dude.
Brachiator
@kwAwk:
And all those news stories about a childishly petulant Bill Clinton holding back on campaigning for Obama in the 2008 election never happened?
And by the way, this is more than just admiration for Mrs Obama on my part. I have no use for the notion that presidential candidates have to parade their wives and children before the voters to squeeze out a few votes. It’s primitive.
Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is a skilled political operative who should show some freaking loyalty to Obama and to the Democratic Party.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator: I think there’s a fundamental split between Bill Clinton, who thinks Democrats owe him for his presidency, and Democrats like me, who think Bill Clinton owes us for saving his blundering, narcissistic ass.
Then there are the kwAwks of the world, who think “impeached but not convicted” plus “she beat Rick Lazio!” equals “THE CLINTONS ARE MAGIC!”
BruceFromOhio
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: This has been a revealing thread.
Indeed, it has.
kwAwk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/top_lieberman_staffer_we_begge.php
kwAwk
@Yutsano:
Sorry. Obama’s dog whistle not mine.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-tells-health-reform-critics-grab-mop/story?id=8843741#.TwitU4HPwlM
kay
Bruce From Ohio, I don’t know. I thought the organizing end in Ohio was fine.
I think it was a horrible year for Democrats, for a lot of reasons.
I don’t know that more speechifying would have changed anything.
I did telephone canvassing.
People were just generally pissed off, and they were going to punish the Party in power, is what I heard.
Honestly? I think by the time everyone is yelling at each other it’s lost and gone. They’re blowing off steam because they know they’re going to lose.
Michelle Obama would not have made a bit of difference.
I did get pissed at Strickland for whining in that rag, though.
I thought he was tougher and more clear-eyed than that.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Great point.
I greatly admire Bill Clinton, but also note that he was also a junky man with junky appetites who gave his enemies the stick they gleefully used to beat him with.
And while I understand his support for Mrs Clinton during the 2008 primaries, he should have done more for Obama during the election, and he needs to do more now. He can save that elder statesman former president stuff for later.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kwAwk: I didn’t say it didn’t happen. I’m just saying, again, check your dates and the circumstances. Ned Lamont was a longshot in March, way ahead in July. Obama was speaking at a small party fundraiser, Bubba rode in with all guns blazing with every national camera pointed at the race. He also promised he’d come back to campaign for the winner of the primary, but somehow never could drive the thirty miles from Chappaqua to campaign for Lamont.
AxelFoley
@Zandar:
You see what happened to ABL, right, Zandar?
Just sayin’…
Pillsy
Bill Clinton was an absolutely terrible campaign surrogate for his wife during the 2008 primaries. He might have been petulant about it behind the scenes, but he actually did a better job of things when he was stumping for Obama post-nomination.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator:
I admire him, too, but I also see his faults. I admire Hillary Clinton even more. I just think their supporters tend to grossly exaggerate their records, their virtues, and even more so their political effectiveness.
boss bitch
these “oh I wish she was president and not Obama” like comments are silly. Of course some of you like her better, SHE ISN’T THE PRESIDENT NOR IS SHE A POLITICIAN WHO’S RECORD YOU CAN SCRUTINIZE
Suffern ACE
@boss bitch: Although you’d have to admit that there’d be a great deal of interest in the Obama vs. Obama primaries if she were to throw her hat in the ring. I wonder if Penn could be engaged to plant some “Draft Michelle” opinion pieces in the Journal and Rupert could be enticed to tweet…
Yutsano
@kwAwk: Your privilege is showing. Idiot.
AxelFoley
@Nikki:
I’m gonna have to take issue with this notion.
I understand what the sistas are saying in regards to how Michelle is our mothers, our aunts, our matriarchs. I get that.
But the idea that we, as black people, aren’t as defensive of Barack as we are of Michelle grates me.
Barack Obama is That Dude. Graduate of Columbia and Harvard. First black editor of the Harvard Law Review. Turned down opportunities to make a fuck ton of money to become a community organizer in poor black communities in Chicago. State Senator. U.S. Senator. His accomplishments BEFORE he became the first black President in U.S. history are amazing.
He did the right things. He did what they said what we were supposed to do to become successful in this country.
And he still gets shit for it.
Yeah, us brothas see all that. We see how you can do everything we’re told you should do and it still doesn’t matter to a significant number of the population–you are still a nigger. Just an educated nigger, but a nigger nonetheless.
So yeah, we’re just as defensive of Barack as we are for Michelle. At least us brothas are. He is us, just as Michelle is you. If we don’t have his back, who will?
AxelFoley
@amk:
This. Fucking this.
Suffern ACE
@AxelFoley: Well, they were waiting for the Clinton’s to split, and made every appearance they made somehow about a scandal of the day. It hasn’t gotten yet to the point where they are trying to make us hate the fact that the Obamas are still married. By 1993, Hillary could have been given a speech about her love of kittens to the We Love Kittens Society, and the douches would have remarked how Hillary’s love of kittens was troubling convenient given the recent Baloneygate scandal, followed by a deep analysis of psychotic psychologist Krauthammer into the pathology revealed by her statements and how it was just covering up her troubled marriage and scandals. And it would have gone down as Kittygate. (And the idea that Hillary was only on the floor with that female vet to capture Socks for his appointment!)
Yeah, it was like that. And a lot of Dems and liberals put up with it then, and shouldn’t do it now.
kwAwk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Both Obama and Clinton worked on Lieberman’s behalf at critical times for his re-election bid.
However, I’m just not sure what that had to do with Michelle Obama.
kwAwk
@Yutsano:
You’re just upset that on a site that prides itself on euphemisms, idioms and inside jokes, that you didn’t get that one.
Yutsano
@kwAwk: Believe what you want sunshine. Hillary still won’t be President.
kwAwk
@Yutsano:
Well Sparky, this notion that somehow every criticism of Obama is based upon racism was old 3 years ago.
Chuck Butcher
O for Cri-yi sake. Celebrity gossip article and book letting the prols peek in past the curtains to find out that – OMG! somtimes they fight…
Worse yet, sometimes they don’t agree about how to do politics?
Sure, there is the limpballs school of offensive as hell bullshit spouted as reason… (er, something) I know it may be seen as “white privilege” or some such but I’m not overly displeased to see the GOP put itself on view for what it is. That isn’t approval of the POV, but since it is their political agenda it is useful to have it more clearly on display.
I get considerably more worked up by the whispers, by the closeted bigotry that slinks by under the radar. The wink and a nod. “nudge nudge wink wink” to steal from better commedians.
Chuck Butcher
Hillary’s real problem was that as a lawyer she skated right along that crumbling edge of legality. It isn’t all that damn unusual to play for maximum return without quite breaking the law. It is also going to haunt you if you get yourself into the public eye.
Yep, no doubt the GOPers engaged in a program of personal destruction without much ground to stand on. If you moderate your goals and stay the hell away from that edge, or accept your losses and stay away from it – opponents won’t have even dubious ground to stand on.
I didn’t want Hillary as candidate not just because of that baggage from the Clinton Admin, I didn’t want that mind set either. Despite my disagreements with Pres Obama I do not get that from him.
If you start from a position of recitude in your affairs, pragmatism is a hell of a lot easier to swallow in the political arena than it would be from someone who has demonstrated that not quite breaking the law is a standard.
geg6
Well, I just have to say that these Michelle Obama threads have been just as enlightening about a lot of BJ commenters as any ABL post was.
Wonder why that is and what they could possibly have in common?
Liberal misogynistic racists are, IMHO, worse than their conservative counterparts. At least the conservatives know that they hate women and people of color and rarely make much effort to conceal it. The liberals, though, actually think the have no prejudices and couch their hate in rationalizations that are so obviously a cover. The least self-aware people on earth. Disgusting.
Darkrose
@lamh35:
This, so much.
I look at the girls and I see me at that age, only with glasses and a lot shorter. Michelle went to Whitney Young, where my best friend from high school went, and where I would have gone if I hadn’t decided on Ignatius. Barack’s awesome and all, but Michelle is my girl.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kwAwk:
You invoked the alleged Clinton Magick in an attempt to paint Michelle Obama as useless to Democratic politics.
stinger
#97 Pillsy@12:56pm:
And has been Americans’ Most Admired Woman for 16 – that’s SIXTEEN – years running.
kwAwk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So what does the fact that Clinton supported Joe Lieberman have to do with Michelle Obama?
Look, the Washington establishment (Obama included) wanted Lieberman re-elected to make sure those dirty rotten hippies that make up the Net-Roots were kept in their place. I get that.
But that doesn’t change who would have given their respective spouse better support in the 2010 campaign.
Halcyan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think the “change the tone in Washington” that Obama wanted to accomplish was to stop the partisan bickering (yes, I know, Quixotic at best, but there you have it) wasn’t ever going to be Rahm’s forte.
I fear that a lot of the angst with Obama has to do with folks’ reading of the “change the tone” thing – some people thought it meant that the Dems would *win* the partisan fighting, not that he would try to stop it entirely.
There is a book I read about relationships – it said that we do patterns over and over, and when one party to the relationship (in this case, Obama in the political back and forth) changes the pattern (i.e. stop calling the other party names), the other party doubles down on the original pattern (in this case, gets whacked out with calling the President and the dems names).
Shrug. It sure seems to have played out that way.
4jkb4ia
No. It’s not you. The best part was that she was on to Rahm and defended the president’s best self against him–and this is from someone who has thought a lot of the Rahm bashing was over the top, especially the winking and nudging about his Israeli dual citizenship.
That article was really about one stopping point in the changing roles of first ladies. They are going to be their own people more and more and maybe in 20 years it will be OK to have someone like Judith Steinberg who didn’t even campaign for her husband until the MSM made a big deal of it.
Kola Noscopy
@Alison:
Idiot and liar.
I praised Michelle O in this very thread. I have in the past praised Barack for statements and actions he took before he was elected, and for his repeal of DADT.
You’re a moron Obot.
Kola Noscopy
@g:
There is a LOT of manageable area between being one hundred percent objective, which is probably not achievable for a human, and one percent biased as in the case of the raving, slobbering obots in this thread.
When I make positive comments about the Obamas, as I have many times over my many years commenting here, it goes right over their heads because they revile anyone who isn’t one hundred percent Obot. I have dared to strongly oppose Barack Obama’s Republican-lite style of governing, and that to them is beyond the pale.
Kola Noscopy
@Villago Delenda Est:
where have I been critical of Michelle O? Link please.
Kola Noscopy
@kay:
Kay, I agree with this comment one hundred per cent.
I’m sick of good old boys running this country, dem or Repub
Kola Noscopy
@geg6:
The idea that the loose cannon, self destructive, Angry Clown Lady has anything in common with the self-possessed, self controlled FLOTUS is…hilariously deluded.
Unless, of course, for some reason you believe that all black women are EXACTLY alike.
Maus
@geg6:
Kneejerk idiots jumping in to tar the whole for a few asshole commenters that are not encouraged?
I’d say that.
Maus
@Athenae:
The media LOVES a good “human interest story” and needs them to flood the 24 hour news cycle. Reporting on everything that’s important is costly! Someone might change the station!