TIME For Michelle To Get The Spotlight

TIME Magazine profiles the controversial Michelle Obama:

...in recent weeks, Michelle has also become a favorite target of conservatives, who attack her with an exuberance that suggests there are no taboos anymore.

Here is a helpful illustration of rational exuberance.

The latest strike came from the Tennessee Republican Party, which posted a YouTube ad ridiculing Michelle's now famous "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country" remark. That prompted Barack Obama to throw down a gauntlet of his own. "I would never think of going after somebody's spouse in a campaign," he told Robin Roberts of Good Morning America. "She loves this country ... And especially for people who purport to be promoters of family values ... to start attacking my wife in a political campaign, I think, is detestable."

But is she fair game?

It's a little brazen for Obama to say his wife can't be a target when he uses her as a shield, like a charm against charges that his own biography is somehow too exotic, too alien, too Jeremiah Wright and not enough Norman Rockwell. In his telling, her life as a Chicago city worker's daughter whose family ate dinner together every night, who made it from public schools to the Ivy League to the long, twisting road to the White House, is a tribute to "an America that didn't just reward wealth but the work and the workers who created it."

TIME notes that in her stump speech Ms. Obama includes a tribute to her hard-working parents before morphing into the Sister Grim:

She says she tells the stories to let people know we're not so different from one another, since if we don't realize how much we have in common, we'll never get anything done. And then she lays out her case: the days when a father could support a family on a city worker's salary are long past. She paints a picture of crumbling neighborhoods and failing schools, unavailable health care, shrinking pensions, single parents working double shifts. "This has been the case for my entire lifetime," she says, and warns that "we're raising a generation of 'young doubters,'" children who are insular and timid. "They don't try, because they already heard us tell them why they can't succeed."

This is, apparently, too much for some conservatives. They hear "whining" from a woman preaching a "Gospel of Misery," about everything from her student loans to the high cost of piano lessons. When she describes the steadily deteriorating conditions during her lifetime, they counter with the stats: rising home ownership, falling poverty, a quadrupling of the population with a college degree, an explosion of science and technology and opportunity. When she says that "before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls," conservative blogger and radio star Hugh Hewitt levels his warning: "Whenever someone from the government comes to you and says, 'We have to fix your soul,' be very afraid ... No one believes outside of the hard-core left that government can fix your soul." The National Review put a glowering picture of Michelle on its April cover, called her "Mrs. Grievance" and declared that "Michelle Obama embodies a peculiar mix of privilege and victimology which is not where most Americans live."

TIME then presents a laugh out loud "What's a girl to do" baffler:

They are probably right to think that most Americans have a happier impression of the past 40 years. But the skies have clouded in the past year, and this time around, the attacks make one wonder how those who find Michelle Obama's gritty realism out of bounds would mount a campaign in this climate. By suggesting everything is swell? By gliding silently over the battered economic landscape at home in order to talk instead only about terrorism abroad? That is certainly not where most Americans live either.

Good point!  We are having a bad year so what else can a candidate's surrogate do except trash the last forty and declare our souls to be broken?  This is a Presidential campaign, not a search for reason and perspective.

As a matter of practical politics, she is in a bit of a box - she can't praise the Bush years; admitting that times weren't awful under Clinton might be perceived as a boost for Hilary; no lib will tolerate her praising Bush I or Reagan; and few Democrats are inclined to wax nostalgic for Carternomics.  So trash 'em all!

TIME Delivers a message of Hope and Change:

Whether by coincidence or by design, she has brightened her message recently, talking less about what's wrong than about what's possible. "We live in isolation sometimes, but the truth is that people want the same thing. They're tired of the divisions, they want peace, they want fairness, they want equity," she told a group of phone-bank volunteers on May 19 in Louisville, Ky. "They're willing to sacrifice. They're willing to put things that are valuable to them on the table for the greater good."

Oh, please - she is asking these people to make the sacrifice of voting for a guy who has made the improbable promise to hold their taxes steady and raise taxes on "the rich" while delivering more benefits to the middle class.  Heroic!  Well, we also have to endure four (or eight?!?) years of Michelle, which is only a sacrifice if you think we were pining for Wild Bill.  And given Obama's utter lack of foreign policy experience, I suppose we all may have to sacrifice a few nights of calm, uninterrupted sleep.

It's a cliché of American politics that even in hard times--or maybe especially then--people always vote for the optimist. This does not mean we wish our problems away; only that in good times or bad, we want to think we face obstacles with ingenuity and grit. Maybe Michelle Obama is telling hard truths. Or maybe her truths are not as widely shared as she suggests. Barack Obama's "Yes, We Can" stump speech is wrapped around American decency and imagination. Her story has heroes too, but she doesn't bother to keep the stragglers in the closet.

Ms. Obama has nailed down the "Whiny, Self-Absorbed Pessimist" demographic.  Let's see if that becomes a key part of the Obama coalition.

Earlier thoughts on (OK, diatribes about) Michelle Obama here and here.

Comments

[elk]

I'll do the paining and the stroke. I need more than like a lisp, good paralysis on one side and some thinking impaired. We should also do some brain stem work and let her know that it's because they raise.

[kim]

Michelle, Ma Belle, let us hear about your troubles now.
===============================

[Danube of Thought]

Jesus. Time and Newsweek both make me sick. Thank God circulation is dropping for both.

[Buford Gooch]

Aunt Esther.

[Cecil Turner]

"I would never think of going after somebody's spouse in a campaign" . . .

What a crock.

I do think, there should be some certain, uh, there should be some standards of honesty in any political discourse; that's part of the change that I want to bring about.

And then there's his fellow travelers (try to find a denunciation about that from Barry NMN O . . . or get through one of those comment sections without reading some Kos Kiddie's typically classy comment about a "Stepford Wife").

[Cecil Turner]

There are a couple of entertaining posts on the same subject at Flopping Aces.

[Americaneocon]

Great posting!!

[JGF]

The incomplete mind is an insane mind; We should evolve into what we were. We should seek technology rather than bodies.

The plague idea is old, but it worked nicely into New Orleans. The weather is getting old, maybe some tsunamis?

Yes, stepford wives were the rubber maids. Women who went after bodies and were assumed by a robot to teach them that was bad and wrong. They're nice and everything.

Obama, his wife and dems can't afford honesty. Let's go to court and sue about this shit. Obama died? So.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

What?

[MikeS]

The incomplete mind is an insane mind
Quote the Raven.

[MayBee]

But the skies have clouded in the past year, and this time around, the attacks make one wonder how those who find Michelle Obama's gritty realism out of bounds would mount a campaign in this climate.

Are the skies really so much cloudier in the past year, or than they were when Michelle (and I) were kids?
I remember doing the nuclear bomb/tornado drills in elementary school. I remember watching the Earth Science films about pollution killing our rivers, oceans, and earth. I remember my family buying the used second car (nobody I knew actually had two *new* cars).
Michelle Obama talks about how life was better for a working class family back when she was young, but I'd bet she would never ever ever move back into that second-story duplex she grew up in.
I bet her family didn't spend money on cable tv, cel phones, brand-name clothes, iTunes, or internet access. I'll bet her family didn't spend money on medical expenses like MRIs for sports injuries, lipitor, prozac, paxil.
I bet her family then went on driving vacations to the Wisconsin Dels, and not to DisneyLand or the Caribbean.
We live in such a privileged society. Yes, some have it tough, but are the skies really so cloudy?

[Porchlight]

Good comment, MayBee. Unprecedented prosperity is all around us. Yes, it can be a challenge to keep up with the elevated standard of living many of us have become used to (cable, internet, cell phones, computers, Netflix, dining out etc). But if we scrapped all that and adopted the standard of living our parents or grandparents had at our age, it would be a comparative cinch.

[Old Dad]

"...gritty realism." Heh.

Do you know how many lattes I have to pass on in order afford ballet lessons for the kids?

[Neo]

Michelle should thank Ted Kennedy, Obama supporter, for starting the Era of Bork, in which nothing and nobody is above criticism.

[MayBee]

YIKES!

"We live in isolation sometimes, but the truth is that people want the same thing. They're tired of the divisions, they want peace, they want fairness, they want equity," she told a group of phone-bank volunteers on May 19 in Louisville, Ky. "They're willing to sacrifice. They're willing to put things that are valuable to them on the table for the greater good."

This is what most people want in Michelle Obama's world.

[windansea]

"I would never think of going after somebody's spouse in a campaign," he told Robin Roberts of Good Morning America.

really Obie57? You hsd no problem going after Hillary's spouse here:

“You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling,” Obama said. “He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts — whether it’s about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas.

“This has become a habit, and one of the things that we’re going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he’s making statements that are not factually accurate,” Obama said.”

so only female spouses are off limits huh?

maybe Mr Sweetie is a chauvinist

[Cecil Turner]

"...gritty realism." Heh.

No kidding. And if Barry O really wants to see "detestable," I'd recommend reading any article in which the "paper of record" discusses the nation's most accomplished black jurist. For example:

Thus, although he seriously believes that his extremely conservative legal opinions are in the best interests of African-Americans, and yearns to be respected by them, he is arguably one of the most viscerally despised people in black America.

I find it hilarious that various lefty demagogues berate Thomas continuously for believing his accomplishments tainted by affirmative action; and yet find Michelle's ungratefulness charming. Moreover, the difference in response to public criticism in the two cases is englightening . . . and does nothing so much as highlight the ridiculous thin-skinnedness of the Obamas.

[huggy]

above:
"...But if we scrapped all that and adopted the standard of living our parents or grandparents had at our age..."

If this happens a large number of people will be out of a job and the economy would shrink for awhile.

[Porchlight]

If this happens a large number of people will be out of a job and the economy would shrink for awhile.

huggy,

Agreed. I'm not proposing that we do that, just pointing out that the list of what is considered necessary in order to live "the good life" has expanded dramatically over the years.

[ParseThis]

I recall a 60 Minutes segment from Chillicothe before the Ohio primaries. The scene was set: "Thomson Consumer Electronics packed up its plant and moved more than 500 jobs to China. And, there have been layoffs at the Kenworth truck factory and the Glatfelter paper company, two of the town’s biggest employers. Another paper plant, New Page, is closing its facility by the end of the year."

One gentleman losing his job was a very sympathetic figure. Paper makin' was all he knew. Been doing it for 27 years like his daddy before him did for 41 years. It was going to be tough; his wife had MS and he was facing some huge medical expenses, but he'd figure something out. The guy was about to start crying, and I was about to shed a tear with him.

I thought this guy would be interested in the candidate's proposals for health care, retraining, and economic growth. John McCain would later visit Youngstown on his tour of places he couldn't help, visiting a shuttered factory to deliver hard truths: "These jobs ain't coming back."

When asked, this gentleman from Chillicothe said he was considering voting for Obama. I was surprised and wanted to hear more. He said, however, there were a couple of issues he was “not too clear” on. What could that be? “Well, I'm hearin' he doesn't even know the National Anthem, you know. He wouldn't use the Holy Bible. He's got his own beliefs, got the Muslim beliefs. Couple issues that bothers me at heart.”

At which point I beat back the tears and my bleeding-hearted liberalism gave way to full-blooded patriotism. Suddenly, I wanted to compliment him on the sturdiness of his bootstraps, inquire as to any venison recipes that would go good with Cindy McCain's cookies, and sing out loud, "I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see."

[JGF]

Enfranchised Eye mind.

TV

[hit and run]

I'm sorry your party is so filled with racist bigots, Parse.

[Rick Ballard]

Geez, H & R, without the racist bigots the rest of the morons would have absolutely no way to feel superior to anyone. The two parts have a very good fit.

[Sara]

Michelle and Barack Obama's constant whining makes me see red. She thinks she had it so bad. Well, my Mother was a widow before she was Michelle's age. She was an executive and earned top dollar for a woman, but it was still way below her male counterparts and she was barred from the male clubs as a woman that would have helped her advance her career, she couldn't join the Country Club because she no longer had a husband to sponsor her, not that she could have afforded to anyway. Even with scholarships, I could not afford to go to a private or Ivy League university and had to go to a State University. I didn't have a basketball star older brother whose coattails I could ride into Princeton on. I didn't have affirmative action to pave the way for me. My Mother didn't whine, she set about to be the very best in her field so that she couldn't be shut out. She worked hard and taught me the value of working hard and moving forward. She would never have tolerated the whining about some conceived slights. She was fond of saying, "oh for Pete's sake, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and try again." Victim was not a word in her vocabulary. She worked to pull young women along with her, never telling them they were poor pitiful victims of a mean society, but bright, capable young women who need to set goals and then set about reaching them. Her motto was from Kahil Gabran: "Tomorrow is Today's Dream."

[ParseThis]

And I don't want anyone pointing out that the gentleman from Chillicothe I highlighted in my earlier comment was found to be a plant by the Obama campaign. That's completely irrelevant to my point. (And certainly don't mention the 60 minutes TANG forgeries either.)

Nor do I want to hear about how Obama's taken up the wearing of that flag pin again because even Democrats (!) weren't convinced he was patriotic enough.

And do NOT mention Barack's "Patriot Employers Act" where he proposes using the power of the state to reward companies who follow his socialist policies. That one's too eerily fascistic for even me o defend, so let's just leave it be.

Oh, and once again, thanks for giving me a high-traffic platform to slander McCain. The left may be an intellectual wasteland, but as long as Soros is around, it's a very lucrative one!

[MayBee]

Ha! That's cruel.

[RichatUF]

27 years of union dues really did a lot for that sad Ohio racist. Here is an interesting media bit...

“One of the things that we found in southern Ohio - not widespread, but something that popped up on our radar screen all the time - people talking about it, this idea that you're a Muslim,” Kroft told Sen. Obama.

“Right. Did you correct them, Steve?” Obama asked.

“I did correct them,” Kroft replied.

“There you go,” Obama said.

Why is it Steve Kroft's job to correct a voter's mistaken notions as to what BHO's faith is for the Obama campaign?

Also Thomson Consumer Electronics is a French company that sells GE products under license and owns the RCA brand. Didn't see anything about a new factory in China (though they do a lot of business there-also India). Interesting bit of trivia

[RichatUF]

Seems I should have read the rest of the thread didn't know the guy was a plant...curious...its nice outside maybe I'll go fire up the bbq

Have a great holiday JOMers...

[SAM]

"As a matter of practical politics, she is in a bit of a box - she can't praise the Bush years"

Barack and Michelle Obama--Adjusted gross income

2000--$240,505
2001--$272,759
2002--$259,394 (MO salary--$98,826)
2003--$238,327 (MO salary--$115,889)
2004--$207,647 (MO salary--$121,910)
2005--$1,655,106 (MO salary--$316,962; MO directors fees--$45,000)
2006--$983,926 (MO salary--$273,618; MO directors fees--$51,200)
2007--$4,139,965 (MO salary--$103,633; directors fees--$29,443)

I can see why Michelle Obama is so unhappy. The Bush years have been particularly hard for her and her family.

[Forbes]

"the days when a father could support a family on a city worker's salary are long past."

This is pure fiction. On what planet does Michelle live on.

Big city municipal employees have the cushiest employment packages around--there is nothing comparable in the private sector. Boatloads of vacation, health care for life, retirement at age 55 with full pension. Bus drivers in NYC make ~55K. Bus drivers.

How out of touch can one person be (aside for no challenge to such assertion by the media).

[RichatUF]

Oh, and one last thing. Sara, I can really appreciate your Mother and the values she's obviously instilled in you. More like her, please! I think you can agree that John McCain's opposition to equal pay for women -- they need more education and training -- is spot on. Like his opposition to the GI Bill, McCain understands the importance of incentives. Whether that means encouraging women to stay in the kitchen and properly raise the kids or, like you Mother, to set an example by working harder and not complaining about inequities; McCain has the right ideas for structuring society along the time-honored lines of tradition. My Mother stayed home and raised me which was no easy feat, mind you. She used to mumbled under her breath, "What did I do to deserve this?" But she didn't complain and always had a warm meal for dinner waiting. I can't tell you how proud I am of her, I mean, look at how well I turned out!

[Pofarmer]

She paints a picture of crumbling neighborhoods and failing schools, unavailable health care, shrinking pensions, single parents working double shifts.

In the Liberal dreamland of the inner cities??

I can't beleive it.

[Rick Ballard]

Pofarmer,

What was the Obamessiah doing for the last twenty years to alleviate the misery in that hellish prog plantation? I mean, aside from taking his kids to listen to God Damn America sermons on the Sundays when Racist Wright wasn't holding "come to Mohammad" get togethers with Calypso Louie?

[Ann]

Rick,

Well, we know the Obama chillren in the hellish prog plantation were going to God Damn America sermons, piano lessons, dance lessons, summer camp, etc. all to the tune of 10,000 a year.

I would love to know if they were Girl Scouts. Any bets? No, I doubt it. They would have to pledge alliance to the flag.

[Ann]

oops,

Allegiance

[bgates]

Baby steps, Ann. If a child just one generation removed from Michelle managed an alliance with the flag, that's real progress.

I beat back the tears and my bleeding-hearted liberalism gave way to full-blooded patriotism.
Sounds like those two forces are in opposition. Can we question your liberalism?

Sam - Of course they think times are tough. They took a seven hundred thousand dollar pay cut in 2006.

[ben]

ParseThis seems to think that Obamamessiah has some kind of plan to "bring the jobs back". He doesn't. And he has now been bought and paid for by big labor, the same big labor that believes jobs in uncompetitive industries and locations can be "protected". They can't. Obama's policies of higher taxes and bigger entitlements and more government regulation will kill jobs, not create them. But that's the kind of thinking you get when you rely on 60 Minutes for economics.

[Jim C.]

"Whiny, Self-Absorbed Pessimist"? WSAP?

How about "Whiny, Arrogant, Selfish Pessimist"? WASP?

[Pofarmer]

All I know, Rick, is that Barack Hussein wants to bring the same stuff out here to the sticks, and, I ain't buying.

[sylvia]

Didn't Obama diss Bill a few times - as in "I don't know who I'm running against Hillary"?

[kepa poalima]

barama, his wife michelle and rev. wright. barama could add maxine waters as his vp. she would add the authentic african-american flavor that barama himself is missing and the female component he is antagonizing with his treatment of rodham-clinton. and waters is as naive, empty headed and prone to hoof-in-mouth disease as barama. and they do represent what the democrat party has become - the american-socialist party.

[megapotamus]

"Her story has heroes too, but she doesn't bother to keep the stragglers in the closet."

What is this suppose to mean? Trying to make sense of nonsense is a tough hill and the Obammies don't make it any easier.

But why delve into this absurdity when there are important questions, like, just what is a "community activist"? What do they do and by whom are they compensated? Looks like a career path I haven't properly considered.