For the 16 years they have been married, Michelle Obama has been Barack Obama’s closest advisor, second only to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Should Obama be elected, his presidency promises to be another two-fer. In case you have any doubts, columnist Robert Novak reports that Hillary Clinton will not be offered the vice presidency, because Michelle Obama has nixed the very thought.
Since Michelle Obama, a Harvard-educaed attorney, will be a shadow president it’s time to examine her worldview. For one thing, Michelle Obama needs to be reminded why she should be proud of America, after all those years drinking in the Rev. Jeremiah White’s hateful, anti-American vitriol. (BTW, have you ever noticed that even when her face is in repose you can tell Michelle Obama is one pissed off, resentful – yes, bitter – woman? She always looks like she’s just this close to biting your head off.)
Radio talk show host Michael Reagan writes, “[t]o know her is to know what her husband really believesâ€:
From what we’ve heard from Mrs. Obama she was paying close attention to the Reverend Mr. Wright, eating up his fiery words and probably enthusiastically nodding agreement as he blamed whitey for inventing AIDS to kill blacks as Barack dozed beside her, wondering when the Reverend Wright was going to shut up. …
Poor Barack, how can he admit that he didn’t hear any of that rabble-rousing rhetoric because he slept through all 20 years of it?
If you want to find the culprit here, turn to Michelle. I’m willing to bet she heard every word of the Reverend Wright’s inflammatory sermons, swallowed them whole, and seethed in anger over White America’s wretched mistreatment of her fellow black Americans as described by her pastor.
So here’s what Michelle Obama – and, presumably, her husband – believe about America and Americans: that we’re ignorant, fearful, isolated, insular, timid and can never hope to succeed because we’re getting screwed all the time – and we’re teaching our kids that they can’t succeed, either:
†A speech in Columbia, SC, January 23, 2008
“We don’t like being pushed outside of our comfort zones. You know it right here on this campus. You know people sitting at different tables, y’all living in different dorms. I was there. Y’all not talking to each another, taking advantage of the fact that you’re in this diverse community because sometimes it’s easier to hold onto your own stereotypes and misconceptions, it makes you feel justified in your ignorance. That’s America. So the challenge for us is, are we ready for change?”
†An interview with Katie Couric on the “CBS Evening News,†February 15, 2008:
KC: As an African American, you gave a very impassioned speech in South Carolina about meeting Coretta Scott King and the impact that had on you. … what would it mean to you to have an African American President of the United States?
MO: I spoke to that audience I also talked a lot about fear, because in this country we spend more time worrying about what we can’t do, what won’t happen, what won’t change. And there is so much fear that ties us down in this country, not just in the African American community but in all communities. … We’re worried about fairness and whether we’re gonna get lost in the shuffle. And sometimes we make decisions based on that fear and that fear only and we don’t look at the possibility. We don’t think in terms of what we can move forward and how we have the power to control our own destinies because we’re locked in that fear.
†A speech in Charlotte, NC, May 2, 2008:
[W]e’re still living in a nation, and in a time when … [t]hey say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you’re getting close to the bar and you’re working hard, and you’re sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you’re right there, you’re reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It’s always just quite out of reach. …Â
And folks are struggling like never before, working harder than ever, believing that their hard work will lead to some reward, some payoff. But what they find is that they get there and the bar has changed, things are different, wasn’t enough. So you have to work even harder. Â
[W]hen you live in a nation where the vast majority of Americans are struggling every day to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar, then what happens in that nation is that people do become isolated. …Â
And when you live in a nation where people are struggling every day to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar, then what happens in that kind of nation is that people are afraid, because when your world’s not right, no matter how hard you work, then you become afraid of everyone and everything, because you don’t know who’s fault it is, why you can’t get a handle on life, why you can’t secure a better future for your kids. … [F]ear creates this veil of impossibility, and it is hanging over all of our heads … our fear is helping us to raise a nation of young doubters, young people who are insular and they’re timid. And they don’t try, because they already heard us tell them why they can’t succeed.
What a depressing, Dickensian view of America and its people. Most of us – particularly those whose forebears immigrated here – think of our country the way Neil Diamond described it in this song from “The Jazz Singerâ€:
Everywhere around the world
They’re coming to America
Every time that flag’s unfurled
They’re coming to AmericaGot a dream to take them there
They’re coming to America
Got a dream they’ve come to share
They’re coming to America
To Americans whose families escaped natural and state-engineered famines; communism, fascism and totalitarianism; or pogroms, genocide, civil war and sectarian violence, America is as close to Paradise as we will ever get on this Earth. And Michelle Obama will never convince us otherwise, no matter how much she whines about how long it took her and her husband to pay off the student loans for their Ivy-league educations.
Note: The Stiletto writes about politics and other stuff at The Stiletto Blog, chosen an Official Honoree in the Political Blogs category by the judges of the 12th Annual Webby Awards (the Oscars of the online universe) along with CNN Political Ticker, Swampland (Time magazine) and The Caucus (The New York Times).
47 users commented in " Why Is Michelle Obama Saying All These Nasty Things About The U.S. – And Us? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackback“To Americans whose families escaped natural and state-engineered famines; communism, fascism and totalitarianism; or pogroms, genocide, civil war and sectarian violence, America is as close to Paradise as we will ever get on this Earth. And Michelle Obama will never convince us otherwise, no matter how much she whines about how long it took her and her husband to pay off the student loans for their Ivy-league educations.”
And to many non-Americans, like me, it is this sort of simplistic, nationalistic pseudo-patriotic nonsense that makes us despair. Those who believe in “My country right or wrong” do their country no favours by believing so. The truly great Americans were, of course, patriotic. But they were never blind and never ignored America’s problems. The above comments reach us from the fringes of rational thought – they represent an extreme expression of what the writer believes and wants us to believe.
Remember what Bobby Kennedy said about extremism: “What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents”. I think that Michelle Obama follows Kennedy rather than Neil Diamond. And that is where the hope for the future sits.
“WHY THE BLOGGGER NEWS NETWORK SUPPORTS CHILD MOLESTERS”?
Paddy – The Stiletto assumes you love YOUR country, and that fact does not make her despair. Allow her and the other children of immigrants who escaped oppression (even mass murder) to love their country. If not for our parents coming here, many of us would not even have been born.
Nice try but the scare tactics won’t work this time. neither you nor Robert zNovack know any more about Michelle Obama than you know about the hairs on my —–, you are simply trying to inflame the “hard working white people”. You poor sesperate neo-cons will do and say anything tomaintain your control but it won’t work this time.
Why do I get the feeling that too many people look at the Obamas as black people first, instead of as Americans first? Our founding fathers were brilliant and framed the Constitution in a way that allowed nonsense like this article to be written and distributed. Technology allows it to be distributed to the masses. But always remember that our founding fathers wanted Americans to love their country, even when that means sometimes disagreeing with and questioning their leadership. That is the very essence of loving our country… to strive for freedom, justice, and equality — even when some people may not agree with your ideology or your methods.
Spreading hate is despicable. You should be ashamed.
I thought this post was about Michelle Obama, but you only quote Reverend White. That makes you look like you don’t know a thing about Michelle Obama, which you probably don’t.
Oops. Misread the quote.
Michelle Obama loves her country – she will be a great first lady and she will accomplish a lot of great things.
Your article is based on a lot of insinuation and inference… if you actually listen to Michelle or meet her there should be no doubt in your mind that she would be our next Jackie O.
Show your patriotism and love of America by supporting the best candidate *any* party has had in a long time: Barack Obama.
P.S.- what journalist prints judgments about a person’s character based on their appearance? “pissed off,” “resentful,” “bitter.” You get that all from seeing her on television? That was pretty lame and immature…. real journalists don’t go there. I guess bloggers do.
PROPAGANDA,PURE PROPAGANDA.Here we go again.The dreaded “THIRD REICH” would be so proud of you,BUT NOT THIS TIME.I had never read this blog before but I am now book marking it for easy reference.Not to digest it’s content,but rather to get your advertisers.I will accuse them of being NAZIS supporters.This guilt by association is great,right? So keep the sleeze coming, and I will keep passing the word on who your advertisers are!
Americans(from usa)are too proud of just being “American” to see the real world,.. they are blind in respect to see what a society should be like.
All they think is how to make money no matter a what human cost( like their president).
I think Michelle is right about the unreachable bar.
Americans should stop…. and think outside the box.
The conservative, nationalistic, far right, has failed, more than once; tragically at the expense of millions of innocent lives. I’m speaking (of course) of The Nazis, and most recently our current militaristic, conservative administration.
The ‘silent majority’ is now ‘Liberal’… Sorry Fox news watchers, it’s no longer a dirty word. Let’s hope our next leaders are patriotic. and liberal enough fix the mess Bush and Cheney have left us with.
The conservative, nationalistic, far right, has failed, more than once; tragically at the expense of millions of innocent lives. I’m speaking (of course) of The Nazis, and most recently our current militaristic, conservative administration.
The ‘silent majority’ is now ‘Liberal’… Sorry Fox news watchers, it’s no longer a dirty word. Let’s hope our next leaders are patriotic. and liberal enough to fix the mess Bush and Cheney have left us with.
I know, I’ll pick out a few quotes from some of the innumerable public talks Michelle Obama has given during this campaign and I’ll make it sound like that’s the sum total of her views. That’ll work.
I mean, have you honestly never criticized ANYTHING about the US? If it weren’t for America, my ancestors would have likely died in the Holocaust, but that doesn’t mean I think America is perfect throughout all time and history. Fighting to improve the country you love is patriotism. If I didn’t care and thought America was hopeless, I wouldn’t bother.
Lol you liberals sure are showing why it was the Nazi Socialist party. The left has as little tolerance as the right.
I love how people project these qualities onto Obama even though his actions contradict his words. For such “intellectuals” the brain drain evident in Obama support is pretty depressing. I guess some people are so caught up in an ideal they put blinders on to reality.
By the way I hope you like Robocalls, telemarketers and targeted advertising. Lol your great leader who has your devoted attention is milking you for your personal information for personal gain. But I suppose there is some excuse for that too like everything else. Here’s some change you can believe in suckers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080428/pl_bloomberg/aw_qty8aivto;_ylt=AgGe54voz_hMunt9mll6Fses0NUE
http://www.barackobama.com/privacypolicy/
What Mrs. Obama was saying was that instability in our society can produce fear in people but that we need not be defined or limited by that fear. That doesn’t seem too nasty to me.
I want to thank you for posting those excerpts. It helped convince me that she really has a grasp of the fear that Republicans have tried to instill in Americans ever since they stopped being Dixiecrats and switched parties.
Every bit of what you quoted that she said rings very true and is right on the money.
Obviously the Republicans and neocons are deathly afraid that their reign of fear, war-mongering and constitution trampling is quickly and finally coming to an end.
Republicans did not want to run against Obama because they know they have no chance against him.
Instead of focusing on how you will enable the Republican party win in November, you are engaging in smear tactics, the kind that dip-sticked McCain’s 2000 campaign in South Carolina. Clearly, you are a true disciple of Karl Rove and other Republican strategists of the 90s. Your methods will get you some votes but will not win you the presidency. Maybe I will run home, pull down the shades, and hide under the bed. But help me…. What is wrong with this: “I spoke to that audience I also talked a lot about fear, because in this country we spend more time worrying about what we can’t do, what won’t happen, what won’t change. And there is so much fear that ties us down in this country, not just in the African American community but in all communities. … We’re worried about fairness and whether we’re gonna get lost in the shuffle. And sometimes we make decisions based on that fear and that fear only and we don’t look at the possibility. We don’t think in terms of what we can move forward and how we have the power to control our own destinies because we’re locked in that fear.”
pure hack. pure speculation. myopic to the extreme. would this pass as journalism?
I am an ex-conservative GOPer. I have voted straight GOP since 1976. I voted for GWB in 2000–what a mistake! I voted for my first Democrat, John Kerry in 2004.
GOP conservatism is a mental disease. Xianity and Zionism are serious mental diseases. GWB and his “Likudnicky” NeoConners thankfully cured me of this disease.
The USA is one F’d-up country. I’m hoping Obama and his team can clean up a little of the mess that GWB’s Israeli firsters made.
A yawn may not be good manners, but, at least, it’s and honest opinion. So, “Yawn!”
Thank you for this post. Millions like me really appreciate a “change” from the media fellation of Obama.
It’s too bad most liberals don’t stop to examine their own views and thoughts and just are bad parodies of the mainstream media.
“Republicans are bad and are warmongers, Rovians, Bushies, etc etc etc”
“Democrats are good and fight for the people against Big ”
FYI there is something called globalism which makes the 1950s era democrat accusations (and fear mongering btw if you want to go there) a little outdated. If you’re gonna tow the party line at least think for yourself every once and a long while.
Democrats act like they’re fighting for the people but ignore the elephants in the room like tort reform for health care. Over $230 billion is spent anually in “defensive health care” basically wasted to protect from lawsuits. Considering the majority of democrats are lawyers I wouldn’t expect this issue to be brought up but I am falsely hopefully that at least some libs could see through the sham.
Wow, Stiletto, you must live in a country far away from the U.S. if you think those statements are shocking. Many Americans DO hang out in cliques, just as Michelle stated. Many Americans DO make decisions based on fear (hello war in Iraq). Many Americans DO struggle to reach moving targets of success. Many Americans ARE struggling and feel isolated from those around them. Many Americans, particularly in poorer regions, DO feel defeated and are persuaded that success is impossible.
It sounds like Michelle Obama understands the complexities and troubles of our society, while you have been living in some sort of spoon-fed bubble.
Seriously Stiletto?
I can sympthaize with the notion that your parents had it rough back in the old country. That’s a completely reasonable claim to assert.
But if you’re about to claim that America right now is “as close to Paradise as we will ever get on this Earth,” it really sounds as though you’re the depressing cynic around here. Do you mean to say that there is no room for improvement, that we’re presently living in the best situation available to us? Is there really no room for progress in your mind?
Now that’s sad my friend, and I feel very sorry for your pathologically limited scope of the world.
I don’t think that the closest thing that Earth will ever get to “Paradise” will still have continued de facto discrimination, hugely stratified socioeconomic gaps, and tragically misguided leadership taking us into simply unnecessary wars.
Check yourself, bro, especially before your start proliferating poorly written and humorously unstructured babble such as this.
Wright is a racist. Michele is a racist. Barack is a racist. Barack, remember, is the guy who called blacks who preferred white company “half-breeds”. You don’t get more racist than that. Argue all you like and blindly love this guy because he’s black, and vote for him because he’s black, but remember while you’re doing so that your actions are just as racist. He’s inexperienced, unqualified and a chronic liar. He’s lied about virtually everything, his family, his voting record, his reasons for things he does, his friendships with a criminal and a terrorist, his property deal with Rezko… I care about my country a lot more than I care about seeing a potential ticking bomb become our president just for the sake of “change”. There’s too much chance that the “change” won’t be good.
Use your heads, people. Look at all his lies and his relationships with extremists. Come on!
America might have problems but in my opinion we should be working to fix the problems and keep the good not throw everything out in the name of “change”. I’d like you to name a country that is so great if America is so bad. Even better go live there since it is so great.
And on the subject of fear, I would say the democrats take the cake. Between Big Corporations and global warming I hear way more fear mongering than the republicans dish out. And at least the terrorism threat has some basis on reality unlike the global warming hysteria whose real purpose is global wealth redistribution.
*tear*
Michelle Obama is such a big bully saying such mean and nasty things. And it’s hurting Stiletto’s feelings!
Get over yourself. Do you honestly think anybody will take your little blurb seriously?
Anyone who would misinterpret Michelle Obama’s remarks as “hateful” and “anti-American” is willfully ignorant. I am thoroughly amazed that there are people out there such as yourself…people who do not seek to understand what is really being said, but rather take information out of context and misconstrue content in order to project their own ideological agenda. It’s frankly just pathetic.
I am an AMERican with Black ancestry dating back nearly 350 years. My Grandfather eight generations back came to this world–not a country at that time not as a slave. He fought, in court for his freedom, he won at a time that rarely did a black man win his freedom.
I will not be voting for Obama UNLESS he starts to come up solutions. HIs speeches may be inspirational to some but contain NO hard solutions. NONE. I do not want a minister as President, someone to give me hope and raise my spirits, I can go to my own church for that.
Give me solutions I give you my vote. I don’t mean any solutions I mean GREAT Presidential solutions. I don’t mean complaining about other solutions I mean REAL solutions.
NONE so far exist with Obama, NO background in fighting for GREAT solutions and no solutions are posted in this website, most certainly not here.
We have serious problems.
I love Michelle Obama.
If you want to talk about perceptions of reality, talk about how “things are going great in Iraq”
How many days has it been since Mission Accomplished????
They are trying to express that the current state of the country is not one that fosters or values education. No Child Left Behind does not work in it’s current form. etc. etc.
If things are wrong with the country, they should be fixed… The current mindset is to deny them.
Obama 08
I guess none of you lived in a place where you saw your entire village wiped out, or went hungry or could not hope for anything more than to cook and clean for the males in your home -first as a daughter, then as a wife. You have NO IDEA what a blessing it is to be an American. And neither, apparently, do the Obamas. Anything else – layoffs, balloon mortgages, healthcare issues PALES in comparison to the fear, hoplessness and misery other people escaped to come here to the US. Sorry, but that’s how The Stiletto sees it.
To Cryos said
Some thoughts to your response
Patriot Act
warrant less wire taps
Bush administration
WHY???? Because she is a hypocritical black moron who only knows how to whine and cry without taking any responsibility for their own action.
Look at the garbage dumps called Detroit and New Orleans.
Lol Gordon. I can see both sides and can admit I don’t like some things GWB has done, but they are far from “unprecedented”. A lot of similar things have been unoffically done for a long time by both parties. Democrats however will do anything for political gain when a republican can be accused of something. If the democratic congress actually worked to get laws passed instead of political grandstanding we’d be better off.
And what is your proposal for addressing terrorism and trying to prevent terrorist acts? Most likely there is information on us in databases that we won’t like but how is it on a daily basis that your life is impacted by those acts? I don’t know about you but I don’t see much of an impact on a daily bases, and it is no more invasive than things democrats do in the name of children, the environment, and other “noble” causes.
On another note Stiletto thanks for the article. I can see why people get upset at the “bias” (basically anything against either of the Obamas should be punishable by death apparently) but I like seeing viewpoints from people from other countries who have a real basis to provide comparison.
It’s easy for pampered Americans to rip on America when their biggest crisis is they missed American Idol that week or don’t have money to get every new trendy electronic gadget on the market.
I fully agree there is room for improvement in America but it seems modern liberals are so intent on this perfect ideal world they seem to think the only way to get there is to completely trash America and rebuild from the ground up. Just goes to show that people don’t learn from history.
Dear Cyros,
How is stiving for idealism in any way a process of trashing what America currently is? There’s no need to characterize arguments in such extremes here. Learning from history, as you suggest modern liberals should do, implies looking at the faults and imperfections of a society and working to ameliorate them, and not to be satisfied with less than that.
I agree Matt. There’s a reason why people like Stiletto and Cyros and others appreciate America for what it is today. And that’s because it’s a product of two and a half centuries of progressive changes and alterations of the imperfections of the past. I don’t think that even Stiletto would be happy to live in America of the 19th century, but luckily we’ve been moblized by changers and doers, rather than those who wish to further institutionalize the problems and imperfections of American society.
We need to have people point out problems in America as Michelle Obama has. Racism and discrimination in housing, employment, legal proceedings, and everyday social encounters is a continued reality and PROBLEM in our society. I’m not in any way a fan of Reverend Wright’s beliefs or methods, but I at least grant him the right to vent is anger and frustration about the problems. Without recognition, these issues would continue to persist in your stagnated “Paradise” American vision.
Sigh narrow idealistic minds see what they believe. As I have stated I think things need to be changed but just copying the media about how America is so bad, blah blah blah and not offering realistic solutions is worthless in my opinion.
1. Learn to use constructive criticism with REALISTIC solutions not just rhetoric or feel good policies
2. Learn to deal with the fact that not everything done wrong in the past will be corrected. Correct the problems today and move on.
3. Learn that there are concepts like personal responsibility that have consequences. Success is not evil and there are certain behaviors that lead to failure. For example if you dropped out of high school and had 3 kids by 21 don’t wonder why you’re poor.
4. Practice what you preach. Actually do something instead of feeling that telling everyone else to do it means the job is done.
5. Agree to disagree. Modern liberals seem as intolerant as conservatives with their views. Utopia is to liberals as god is to conservatives.
Here’s my take on people justifying Michelle’s racism. Yes in the past there were serious problems which fortunately were largely corrected, but I seriously doubt it’s as bad today as a lot of you seem to characterize. Racism does apply to ALL races, and the past does not justify racism in the present. If it does how far do we want to justify it? Roman times? Egyptian times?
I’ve been denied loans, denied employment, pulled over by the police for no reason several times, etc. Because I’m white does that automatically mean racism was not an issue? If so isn’t that assumption that racism is the reason for everything (or nothing in my case) racist in itself?
If you look for something (racism as an example) and have your mind set on it you will find it everywhere and wrongly associate motive to fit your views.
From your column it is obvious that you don’t have a clue about the experiences of non-white people in the United States. In my own lifetime I have seen segregated bathrooms, eating counters, schools, etc, for black and white people. We have come a long way, but obviously not long enough if we are still getting asked the question — “is America ready for a black president?”. When we get to the place where we don’t see someone’s skin colour, or nationality first, then we will be someplace.
You can pretend that America is perfect but you are fooling yourself. That’s not the way to continue to make America great. We need to actually see, actually acknowledge where we need to do better, before we can.
It takes courage.
Micheel Obama seems to be an extremely overbearing woman that is consumed with the negativity she percieves with her race. She comes off as very fearful, doubtful and seems to have a distinct dislike for us “typical white people”..It seems her world is seen as definately black and white altho B. Obama stresses that he is the uniter…Very ambigious couple. Not White House material…Obama will never win..The Republicans will devour him by November. He nor his wife have been vetted yet and already we see very negative choices of associates they have chosen during their marriage and careers…I think the superdelegates would be wise to hold off awhile before casting their vote and see what informtion comes forth regarding the Obamas…HRC can beat McCain. Obama cannot…A vote for Obama is a vote for McCain…
Susa – no one said the US is perfect, but it is certainly evolving toward a more perfect union. You are apparently older than The Stiletto, because in her lifetime, black Americans have not eaten at separate counters, been made to sit in the back of the bus, etc. Rather, in her lifetime black Americans have sat on the Supreme Court; been elected to represent their states as senators, congressmen and governors; become top executives of Fortune 500 companies; and will have a shot at becoming the leader of the world’s only remaining superpower.
At least Michelle Obama is not a druggie!!!! They tried to make Cindy McCain go to rehab, and she did GO, GO, GO!!!
Druggie stepford wife compared to self assured ivy league grad. Hmmmm…. who better to lead our nation?
Michelle, Barak, and Reverend Wright are RIGHT! God D*** america! Racist, bitter, typical white people voted for clinton. Go cling to your religion fools, but save your gun money for my reparations check!
Apparently anyone who doesn’t like Barack and Michelle Obama is a racist Nazi. Is that how they plan on uniting this country, by calling everyone names? It would seem that such a great uniter could unite his own party before anyone could claim any ability for uniting the country.
Why are the Obama supporters so hateful and intolerant of anyone who doesn’t want to vote for Obama? I haven’t noticed the Hillary crowd or McCain crowd being so quick to call people terrible names, like Nazi, as the Obama crowd does straight out of the box. They sound like a bunch of Jeremiah Wrights railing against white America.
Personally, I think Barack and Michelle Obama both suck. Anyone who’s never been proud of this nation and anyone who won’t salute our flag has issues I don’t care to learn about when it’s too late.
WHY DOES bARAK oBHAMA HAVE HIS BLACK FAMILY ON THE STEPS OF THE WHITE HOUSE… HE DOES HAVE WHITE RELATIVES… HIS MOTHER IS WHITE… WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE PEOPLE… HE IS HALF WHITE….OR IS IT JUST GOING TO BE BLACK RELATIVES AT THE STEPS OF THE WHITE HOUSE…………… EXPLAIN………………
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