Michelle Unbound

Michelle Obama is back on the campaign trail, accompanied by Teresa Heinz Kerry - Dem strategists tremble.

The "We need more white people" event (with a bonus Asian dis) had the expected mix of whining and entitlement from Ms. Obama.  First, on the ever-changing political process:

"They move the bar. They snatch it from under you," Mrs. Obama said. "No matter how much money he raises, no matter how many wins he pulls together, no matter how many delegates he accumulates, that's the way it works."

Uh huh.  And later, he'll have to run against some tiresome old Republican.  May I apologize on behalf of our country, our Constitution, and our entire political system?  One can see why she had never been proud to be an American.

Michele on the glorious uplift she and Barack have given this nation:

"We've learned that the American people are hungry for a change," she said. "People are talking about delegates, pledge delegates and super-delegates. When was the last time people even knew there were any delegates?"

Yeah, we were all pretty stupid until they came along.

And speaking of "pretty stupid", this is a baffler, but maybe the reporter is at fault:

She detailed her blue-collar upbringing and the faith that her family once had in public schools. Obama said that if her advancement depended on a few standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, then she would not be where she is today.

Well, Michelle was not much of a test-taker even back in the day.  From Newsweek:

She didn't get the attention of the school's college counselors, who helped the brightest students find spots at prestigious universities. "Princeton, the Ivy Leagues swoop up kids" like Craig, Michelle says. "A black kid from the South Side of Chicago that plays basketball and is smart. He was getting in everywhere. But I knew him, and I knew his study habits, and I was, like, 'I can do that too'." Some of her teachers told her she didn't have the grades or test scores to make it to the Ivies. But she applied to Princeton and was accepted.

Her brother was two years ahead of her and on the way to becoming the first two-time Ivy League Player of the Year, so it is not hard to imagine that she rode his coattails into Princeton.  Let's nod to affirmative action and the athletic recruitment of her brother in explaining her acceptance to Princeton.

And no speech from Michelle would be complete if she didn't whine about the difficulties of getting by on over $400,000 per year:

She also said that if it were not for her husband's two bestselling books, they both would still be paying off their college debt, even though they are beginning to save for their daughters' college funds. Mrs. Obama jokingly said that she's still hoping for Mr. Obama's trust fund to kick in.

"Maybe we've got some coming from cousin Cheney," she said remarking on the recent discovery that Mrs. Obama and Vice President Dick Cheney are eighth cousins.

There she goes again, wanting a hand-out form the rich white folk.  When will she shed her plantation mentality?  And when will she notice that no one gave Dick Cheney a trust fund - his dad was a "soil conservation agent" for the USDA and Dick flunked out of Yale before getting a degree at the University of Wyoming.  Maybe history would be different if Yale had offered supplemental classes for hicks from the sticks,as Princeton later did to marginally qualified minorities.

Well, she's back, for now - go long duct tape.

TOO MUCH DETAIL:  Teresa HK explains the basis of her mutual attraction to hubby - "Everything is in inches or dollars or whatever".

From Just One Minute to "Just A ..." oh, forget it.

ASIAN DIS:  The Rainbow Geniuses at the Michelle event were displacing Asians to make room for whites?  I am constantly reminded that I will never be smart enough to be a Democrat:

While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”

Well, maybe they moved her away from the back row and towards the front for cosmetic reasons.  But why apologize - because they were disrespecting her choice of a seat in the back?

I SUPPOSE GROWING THE PIE IS OUT OF THE QUESTION:   Michelle explains reality to some working women:

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."

I wonder how much of their pie the NEA expects to sacrifice as education is revamped.  As if.

Comments

[bgates]

Given what I know about the enthusiasms of college administrations, there can't be more than about four colleges in the country that would be reluctant to promise full-ride scholarships to the Obama girls* right now. And I don't think Barack and Michelle would let their kids go to the service academies anyway.

*no, not that one.

[bgates]

OK, I can't manage a comment on this next thing at this hour. Here are two consecutive sentences from the wikipedia entry on the veep. Try to guess the second sentence from the first:

"As Vice President, Cheney remains a very public and controversial figure."

-and what exactly causes the controversy? I know you can imagine lots of possibilities here, and you're probably not wrong, but if you're like me you'll be amazed at how they phrase it. Here it comes:

"He continues to assert that the Iraq War and War on Terror must be won by the United States"
Controversial!

[hvs]

"When was the last time people even knew there were any delegates?"

I think they first came to my attention when Richard Daly (the real Richard Daly) gave the finger to opponents in 1968. But if Michelle is confused, she should just ask Ted Kennedy.

[Jeff]

Alex, I'll take US Elections for $100 ...

Uh, the last time there was not a landslide primary winner ?

Well, its clear who the talented member of her family was and apparently is ... he appears to even have some class, again something she clearly lacks ...

Whiny, ungrateful, nasty woman ... can Obama come out to play ? Are those his stones in your purse ?

[Al]

I'm not going to throw stones at her for cherry picking the backdrop audience based on race and sex. Politicians of both parties do just that, as do various high ranking bureaucrats. Take a look at the backdrop audience at a public event behind the AG, or the POTUS, or any one of the cabinet chiefs. The only problem with Obama Mama's tactic is she or her staff had the bad taste to make it clear what they were doing. If they'd kept their mouths shut about what they were doing, and just gone ahead and done it, or said they were doing it to make the portion of the crowd behind the lectern "look like America" or "representative of Obama's wide range of supporters, like Doug Kmiec" nobody would have said anything. Everybody simply loves Affirmative Action, until some fool, in a display of bad manners, calls it by its true name. Yep, everybody buys in, but you'd better believe the advance people for POTUS, for McCain, and any Republican of note are laughing under their breath, discreetly, this morning.

I feel a little sorry for the young black woman who spoke to the media and was shocked about being displaced because somebody else was chosen to receive a particular benefit based on race. I could say, "now, do you see?" but instead will just offer her the empty soporific Whites and Asians were offered in the Gratz and Grutter cases: don't worry, we're not discriminating against you based on race. We're just giving a benefit to somebody else based on *their* race. So we're not actually discriminating *against* anybody. We just needed to create some diversity, and at times, sorry, some diversity is just more diverse than others.

Welcome to Ward Connerly and Thomas Sowell's world, Ma'am.

[bandit]

Listening to Ivy League millionaires complain about being victims is kind of a howl. But it gets really old, really quick.

[Jane]

She really bugs me. I think about all the white men who spent their entire lives working hard to get into Princeton, only to be pushed aside because a lazy Michele Obama decided she deserved the spot at the last minute - without the grades or the tests.

She's an arrogant uppity bitch.

[Jamie]

Too right, bandit - a real "funny once." My puzzlement continues as to why this particular brand-new Senator ought to be a presidential nominee. Remember when Clinton was running for Pres, Hillary Rodham Clinton moderated her normal behavior to appear more "first lady-like"; apparently Mrs. Obama hasn't gathered how to do that yet. (And Mrs. Bush, I'd venture, didn't modify her behavior at all: she is what she always was, no apologies and no need for any.)

Should such a modification be necessary? Well... it's necessary for some candidates themselves to act more presidential, just to show they can; surely it's not too much to ask that a "first spouse" wear a non-embarrassing public persona (cookie recipe optional). My dad was in the Air Force; my mom was deeply grateful that he didn't make general, because she saw the way the generals' wives she knew (all wives at that time) behaved publicly in order to "represent" well, and she knew she'd stink at it. In other words, if you can't stand the heat...

[MarkO]

Some of my best friends are white people.

[Paul]

Isn't it amazing how much whining, complaining, and bitterness comes from these "strong women," Michelle, Hillary, Teresa Heinz, Elizabeth Edwards, etc.?

[Mike G]

Evidently Michelle Obama has expectations that she should be wealthier than she is. Hmm, where could an Illinois politician be getting the idea that the money should be flowing to them? From your mentors like Emil Jones and John Stroger and Richard Daley. maybe?

[Paul Zrimsek]

Obama said that if her advancement depended on a few standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act

Is it usual for individual advancement to depend on those tests? I thought they were for the purpose of assessing schools and school systems.

[RW]

I wonder if we tallied all the instances of Laura Bush complaining or whining (published examples) from the time her husband first sought the governor's office in Texas way back in the early-ish 90s versus the number of instances found by Hillary Clinton/Michelle Obama in the last six months, how the ledger would read?*

--

* Whoops, I'm sure I surpassed the Amanda Marcotte "ugly women who try to find instances of men who really hate chicks" benchmark. My apologies, in advance.

[Sue]

Is it usual for individual advancement to depend on those tests?

In Texas, they do.

[Sue]

Isn't it odd how the No Child Left Behind Act was Bush's first bi-partisan accomplishment? I say odd, because one would never know that Kennedy had his hand in it. Of course, the reason it hasn't worked the way Kennedy envisioned is because Bush didn't spend enough money on it. There is always a reason stupid ideas fail.

[amr]

Yes, Paul, I agree. A really really strong women would have cut Mr. Bill loose, but she couldn't make lots of money and be a senator and presidential candidate if she did. Since Mrs. Clinton has had imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1996 in the White House, she must have told Hillary how to grin 'n bare it. My wife would have made me a eunuch for such behavior.

The whining from the affluent is just too much for me. I know that the cost of living in Chicago is high, but apparently the Obamas just had to have that expensive home in the just so right neighborhood. Wonder if they will get federal assistance to make their mortgage as will others who went overboard seeking the good life. And giving $22,000+ to the church and then complaining about the cost of music lessons and camp; give me a break!

[DebinNC]

Michelle Obama yesterday in NC at Winston-Salem State Univ., "a historically black institution".

"Michelle Obama grew up the daughter of a Chicago firefighter and a housewife. She knows the struggle of “regular folks".."

How great a struggle could it have been, if Mrs. Robinson was able to be a housewife?

"Obama told the crowd that her parents had a single income for the family, but they sent her and her brother to Princeton, she said."

If they support affirmative action, why don't the Obamas credit affirmative action's positive impact on their careers? Do they believe they didn't benefit from it?

"Barack understands that our greatest challenge as a nation is that we are suffering from a deficit of empathy,” she said."

Huh? What is a deficit of empathy, and why is Barack Obama its cure?

[GMax]

You dont pass the test in Texas, you get no diploma.

The test aint that hard. I think my 7th grader already has scores high enough to count as passing the 12 grade test. But you can not graduate with the basic skills of reading, writing and reasoning. A healthy result and one of the few things I give Ross Perot any credit for.

[GMax]

Wanna bet they paid nothing for that Princeton education for two?

[GMax]

without

Sheesh

[DebinNC]

Starting with last year's freshman class, in NC students must pass (get a 3 out of a possible 4) end-of-year tests in: Eng. 9, Alg. I, Civics/Econ, U.S. History, and Biology.. in order to graduate.

[JorgXMcKie]

1) I'd like to see those college bills the Obama-a-ramas would 'still' be paying off. Just how much *did* they have to pay, anyway? Any bets?

2) I'm beginning to suspect Mama Obama is ot-nay oo-tay ight-bray. For a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer she sure doesn't seem to get some pretty ordinary stuff.

[Vaquero]

Michelle Obama, Teresa Heinz and Mr. Teresa Heinz Kerry are the heighth of hypocritical whinny biiiitches in the world. Life has dealt them such a bad hand...jeez what a bunch of dofusses!

[MayBee]

Is it usual for individual advancement to depend on those tests? I thought they were for the purpose of assessing schools and school systems.

Ha! Good point Paul Z (one of my favorite commenters).
When do the Dems start railing against the SAT and the ACT?

GMax- we have a test like that in CA too, I've found out. Our district starts administering it in 10th grade.

[pagar]

""He continues to assert that the Iraq War and War on Terror must be won by the United States"

That is why the American left thinks he should be impeached. That is why the American left is continually claiming that Americans should vote for them. The American left will insure that America does not win the Iraq War or the War on Terror. They already made sure we were defeated in Vietnam.

[Brian G.]

Funny how all of the leftists whine about how life has been so awful to them while they just happened to get into schools like Princeton.

My senior year of high school (88-89), I applied to Princeton, Penn, Columbia, NYU, Syracuse, and Georgetown. Out of all of them, I got accepted to one, NYU. Guess what happened when my family found out how much it cost? That's right, I never went. In fact, I finally graduated from college at Arizona State University in 2002, at the age of 30.

I am sick of people like the Obamas and their leftist pals crying about how "hard" they had/have it.

[clarice]

MayBee , they have been bitching about the SAT and have managed to get it dumbed down considerably. They moan in particular that it is culture bound and favors boys over girls. What they most want is to avoid any objective tests for admission so the birkenstock wearing admission officers with their adorable notions of diversity can pick and choice whomever they choose...The only limitation at some very wealthy colleges seems to be this:At least 30% of the kids have to be able to pay their own way without assistance and a sufficient number of kds proficient in science on the basis of hard tests be admitted so those departments don't have to close down.

[clarice]

***can pick and choose whomever they choose to *****

[willis]

So Obama Mama couldn't pass the No Child Left Behind Act tests. Somehow I thought she had finally gotten out of grade school by the time Bush became president and signed that Act. I doubt that she could pass those grade school tests still.

[MayBee]

Well that's true, clarice. You do have a point about the complaints against the SAT, although they aren't as public with them as the are with NCLB.

Does anyone else think Michelle is counting on people assuming that because she is black, she really does share their financial woes?

[Paul Zrimsek]

Thanks to MayBee and everyone who answered my question. I knew that states have a good deal of latitude both in designing their NCLB tests and in the use they make of them; it's still my understanding that if a child is left back on account of failing the test, it's because the state chose to use the test in that manner-- i.e., the test is mandated by NCLB, but that particular use of it is not.

[Rick Ballard]

Paul,

You can trace the end of the 'arc of compliance' concerning state (not federal) mandates for passing tests as a requirement for high school graduation in these two articles.

WA legislators mandated a testing requirement for HS graduation, ran into the cold fact that WA educrats are unable to impart sufficient math skills to enable 50% of the kids to pass, suspended the initial start date and kicked the can down the road for five years. Not four years, which would put the results out in an election year, but five years - between elections so the sting of the possibility that the educrats will fail again is mitigated.

Profiles in cowardice.

[bgates]

Time for my Great Moments in Education story:
About 8 years ago CA announced it was instituting a high school exit exam as a graduation requirement, to be given to kids twice a year starting in 9th grade until they passed. (That might sound unfair, but the test was supposed to be calibrated to 8th grade level anyway.)

The first run of the test at my school was terrible. At the next board meeting, the superintendent announced that 41% of the 10th graders, and 42% of the 9th graders, failed the math portion.

"Do you mean to tell me," said a board member, "that 83% of the students who took the test did not pass?"

[Ralph L]

“In my house, there were no miracles. All I saw was hard work and sacrifice,” Mrs. Obama said, speaking of her youth. “My father did not complain and went to work every single day.”
And to hell with that. You are the taxpayer we've been waiting for.

[John Hansen]

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."

What she means here is her husband must get into office so he and the Congressional Democrats can be the one who decide which individuals must give up some and which individuals get some.

Yup, better that some highly educated people gather up and distribute all the resources ( after removing their brokerage fee ) than ever to trust freedom and the free market.

[Porchlight]

bgates, great story.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I work at a university and I see the ed school kids all day long. They are sweet, but some of the dumbest on campus, I'm sorry to say. The only department beneath them in average SAT scores is Social Work.

And if you think the undergrads are dumb, you should check out the education Ph.D. candidates, a/k/a future school principals. It makes one weep for the future.

[Soylent Red]

As I read through the comments, the words "Philosopher King" keep popping up into my mind.

I wonder if that's how the Obamas see themselves. Because it damn sure sounds like it to me.

[Rick Ballard]

SR,

Emperor Obama I of Proglandia. If we're lucky it will remain solely a state of mind, unlinked to any semblance of reality.

[Elliott]

Soylent,

I think a true philosopher king would shudder at Obama's views on arts education.

On the other hand, some of us VRWConspirators down in anduril's cave, seeing only the distorted reflections from FoxNews, are unable to understand Hope and Change in all their Platonic glory and have come to conclude that Obama is mistaken on matters of policy and at least as equivocal as most politicians. The Myth of (Obaman) Er(ror), if you will. Fortunately, our media guardians won't stand for this heresy.

[Soylent Red]

I think a true philosopher king would shudder at Obama's views on arts education.

Ah, you are correct. Maybe a better historical reference would be a benevolent despot, "Sun King"-type.

Well, whatever the case, they obviously see themselves as Heroic Standard-Bearers of Troof.

[Jim C.]

These things suggest to Tom that he "will never be smart enough to be a Democrat".

George Orwell wrote about similar things, "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

[Al Gore]

When was the last time people even knew there were any delegates?
*Sigh.* I knew about them years ago.

[GMax]

Before the latest change in the SAT to add a writing component ( because graduates entering colleges could barely write in way too many cases ) there was a time when the SAT was "renormed". They basically jacked up the grades, since a lot of colleges has minimum scores and they did not want to lower their standards, so if you cant raise the bridge lower the water. Sad but a 1500 two years ago is not really comparable to a 1500 of 20 years ago. Its also why lots of the brightest started getting 1600 maxed out scores. You did not have to pass everything on the test just a certain % of various groups of questions, to have aced the exam.

[Joseph Somsel]

I remember the passage in Clarence Thomas' autobiography where he revealed that he was still paying off his student loans when he was swore in as justice. Of course, he wasn't complaining that it wasn't free because he was black, as Mrs. Obama seems to suggest.

[M. Simon]

Some of our best generals were colonels.