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Guest Post by dnA

Yesterday Republicans were up in arms over Michelle Obama’s alleged proclamation that she was only proud of her country because her husband was running for president. This was the quote they used:

“For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” she told a Milwaukee crowd today, “because it feels like hope is making a comeback.”

Naturally, the reaction on the Right was horror, horror, horror, that Michelle could make such a narcissistic statement. How could she only be proud of her country now that her husband is running for president?

Hot Air:

Only her husband’s run for president has made her proud of America? That’s…extremely narcissistic and self-centered.

Kathryn Lopez at NRO:

One wonders what Michelle Obama thought of America before he husband’s presidential campaign. Maybe the Obamas do take after the Clintons. It’s all about them too.

Victor Davis Hanson was also incensed that such an accomplished person wouldn’t be grateful that she was allowed to get so far:

I wrote not long ago that Michelle Obama is a loose cannon, and I fear that her latest is not her last. I would have thought that two Ivy-League degrees, a joint income of about a million dollars, exclusive private schools for the kids, and a nice home in the suburbs were not so bad and might suggest that hope had made a comeback well before Barack’s presidential run.

The tone of Hanson’s post is that he is almost personally offended that the Obamas aren’t on their knees thanking America for those Ivy League degrees and upper class incomes. Yeah, because the Obama’s didn’t earn those Ivy League degrees and incomes, they just got them because white folks were nice enough to share.

Shorter conservatism: If you’re rich it’s because you’ve earned it, unless you’re black, in which case you got it because of affirmative action and maybe because white people felt sorry for you. Unless you’re Clarence Thomas, who is the world’s greatest silent jurist.

Derbyshire chimes in later, attacking Michelle’s interests at Princeton:

Now here’s Michelle Obama in the current Newsweek cover story. She graduated from Princeton in 1985 with a major in sociology and a minor in African-American Studies. Sociology, huh? At first sight that’s encouraging — I mean, at least she didn’t spend her entire college career obsessing about her blackness. Then Newsweek tells us the title of her senior sociology thesis: “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.” (I have this mental image of her thesis adviser saying: “Michelle, isn’t there some way we can squeeze another ‘black’ into that title?”)

God forbid a black person be interested in their own community, as opposed to say, swooning over the imperialist rationalizations of Rudyard Kipling.

It should come as no surprise that Derbyshire, who likes his black and Latino women competing for the honor of cleaning his toilet bowl rather than helping their husband run for president, is offended by an outspoken black woman. But still, there’s more:

Maybe I’m jaded, but I really need persuading that when I look at Barack Obama, I’m not just seeing Al Sharpton minus the pompadour and the attitude.

Translation: Don’t be fooled, all black people think the same even if they don’t talk alike or have perms, and even if they’ve attended Ivy League Schools.

In any case, all of the above had one thing in common: They had all misquoted Michelle Obama to make their point. The place where the quote originated, the Boston Globe’s “Political Intelligence” blog, had posted half the quote with a snarky title in typical Drudge-baiting fashion. Ben Smith quoted what was posted there at Politico, and everything snowballed from there.

Hours later, the full quote was up. Still later, there was an update acknowledging that the full quote had not been posted.

“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country,” she told a Milwaukee crowd today, “and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”

I’m not sure what Michelle Obama meant, but being a black person with privilege and access often makes you more aware of American inequality, not less, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Michelle was referring to. Try living in say, New Orleans or Newark for a few years and see how proud of your country it makes you.

The full quote (the reporter seems to have quoted Michelle Obama mid sentence, since what was once a comma is now a period) literally says she is not proud “just because her husband is running for president.” After emailing briefly with Ben Smith, he corrected his original item, while the folks at Hot Air and NRO didn’t.

If you have to cut a quote mid-sentence to make a point, you don’t have a point.

Comments

  • TR

    says:

    I think we should give them the same treatment.

    “I’m … just … Al Sharpton minus the pompadour and the attitude,” said John Derbyshire.

  • chrisbo

    says:

    So begins the teardown of the new “frontrunner”. The point isn’t that these attacks are true, it’s that if you hurl enough of them often enough, your opponent is talking about your attacks, not his message.

    If anything, these baseless attacks will increase and be amplified by the media (far easier to report “controversy” than substance).

    I’m sorry to see it, but history has shown it is an effective strategy… even if (or perhaps, because) it generates cynicism in the populace.

  • petorado

    says:

    Looking at Michelle Obama’s history, coming of age in the Reagan years, living through Bush the 1st, surviving the eight years of Whitewater-Vincent Foster suicide-Travelgate-Lewinsky investigations and now the Bush cataclysm, I can see how Michelle would feel thrilled that the voters finally seem pissed enough to not want to take this extended period of Republican-influenced BS any longer. I’m in agreement, even if that means Hillary in office.

    It would be expecting too much of our media to think they won’t fall for this manufactured right wing outrage. It’s just to easy to be a stenographer and reporting is hard work.

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    Given that the last time I saw “hope” running around anywhere in America was the moment when Robert Kennedy stood at the podium of the Ambassador Hotel 40 years ago and said “… and now, on to Chicago!”, given that I have spent the past 40 years watching and learning what it’s like to live without hope (let’s vote for this one, he’s not as bad as that one; I’ll take this job, it’s not as awful as that job), and giving up on more than one occasion on the hope that anything I or anyone I knew might do something that would have any effect on this miasma, I am indeed proud to be an American now and see that there are a whole lot of other people out there – people like me, people not like me, even Republicans! – who can decide to come out of their self-imposed isolation and take action to bring hope back into our national existence.

    Michelle Obama is only happy now for the first time in her life because she’s too young to remember the last time one could have that feeling.

    As to the morons, who gives a rat’s ass what Orcs say?

  • socratic_me

    says:

    Stupid nutjob commentary aside, this really wasn’t a smart quote. No matter how you slice it, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country” isn’t going to sit well with the majority of the country. I can sympathize. I feel like Obama’s campaign has me moving past a 7 year depression about the state of our country (and I was pretty apathetic before I was depressed). But I still wouldn’t couch it as “never before in my adult life have I been proud of my country”, which is what most people are going to get from this.

  • SteveIL

    says:

    Sorry, saw the video. She said what she said, and it seems to have been a very elitist statement.

    I’m not sure what Michelle Obama meant, but being a black person with privilege and access often makes you more aware of American inequality, not less, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Michelle was referring to. Try living in say, New Orleans or Newark for a few years and see how proud of your country it makes you. Which makes her statement completely ridiculous. Democrats have run New Orleans and Newark into the ground. I don’t see how her husband being a Democrat is any kind of change.

  • toowearyforoutrage

    says:

    It’s still a lousy quote.
    I’ve been proud of America many times.

    I’d be proud of America every day if it weren’t for all the knucklesheads who overcompensate by saying America can do no wrong.
    I’m forced to tone down my love of country for the sake of America’s humility. Humility, last I checked, is a virtue. Greatness minus humility can be irritating. It also sets you up for a much harder fall when the greatness temporarily fails you (see “Coalition of the Willing”)

  • Ed Stephan

    says:

    I’m not sure what Michelle Obama meant.

    I am. I also haven’t been “really proud of my country”, in my case since 1968 (when MLK and RFK were gunned down and Michelle was only four years old). Now that my hopes are back up for the first time in forty years, the Clintons are doing all they can to restore my well-earned lack of faith in this country. Howard Dean’s DNC aren’t helping.

  • Grumpy

    says:

    That settles it. I can’t vote for Obama now. I mean, he actually decided to have children with a woman who says something which might be construed as unpatriotic! What does that tell me about his character??

    Oh wait — nothing!

  • CJ

    says:

    I couldn’t care less what a candidate’s spouse says or believes. They’re not entirely irrelevant to me as a voter…but almost.

    (Bill Clinton included. They didn’t re-elect Bush 41 when they gave us Bush 43. We won’t be re-electing Clinton 42, if elect Clinton 44.)

  • chrisbo

    says:

    I went and watched the video. A key point I missed the first time is that she said…

    “For the first time in my life, I am really proud of my country…”

    This does not indicate that she has never been proud of her country before, simply that this time is exceptional. Interestingly enough, the word was left out of the original quotation propagated by the media. For me, the omission of the word changes the meaning of the sentence.

    In any case, I agree with those that say it wasn’t the best line to use. Kind of clunky. However, she doesn’t come off as a natural public speaker.

  • Catron

    says:

    If you thing “the Right” distorted this, wait till the Clinton’s start using it. I’d bet that Sid Blumenthal is shopping this story all over the country even as I type.

  • doubtful

    says:

    This does not indicate that she has never been proud of her country before, simply that this time is exceptional. -chrisbo

    Comparative and superlative modifiers are beyond the rhetorical grasp of most right wingers.

  • Jim Strain

    says:

    You’re *supposed* to be proud of your country when the fine men and women who run it stand tall and kick ass. You’re *supposed* to be proud of Guantanamo. You’re *supposed* to be proud of those black-site prisons where taxi drivers are water boarded (Just like Mission Impossible!). You’re supposed to be proud that your president is so tough he can defy the pussies in Congress and keep even his most corrupt appointees in office. You’re *supposed* to be proud that we’ve brought peace, prosperity and democracy to Iraq. You’re *supposed* to be proud of your guns and the way your government has defended the institution of marriage against the threat of the sodomites. And finally, you’re supposed to be proud when you wake up every morning and find the terrorists haven’t attacked us again, and that we’re almost as safe from organized terror as China. What’s the matter, Michelle? Didn’t you get the message?

  • Byron

    says:

    it is all about perspective. when you spend most of your adult life working in the poorest of communities, this statement makes perfect sense. when you see cycles of povery, violence, and addiction contiuing in what seems to be perpetual motion, this statement makes perfect sense. i come from a place like this, and i feel just like michelle obama.

  • Sharon

    says:

    I’m sorry, but this can’t wait until the end of the day open thread:

    Politico:

    “Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.

    Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. ‘A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.’

    Clinton spokesman Phil Singer told me Monday he assumes the Obama campaign is going after delegates pledged to Clinton, though a senior Obama aide told me he knew of no such strategy.”

    Words can’t express the depths of my loathing for this woman’s desperate and despicable behavior. We’re the party that had an election (or two) stolen from us, yet one of our leading candidates is determined to steal a nomination as well, regardless of the consequences. Pathetic!

  • Becky

    says:

    I have been saying for weeks that she has no class is a self proclaimed Jackie K wanna be wit no class no loyalty to America
    The media will hide from all of this because tey fear the race garb
    Her comments do not surprise me in the least
    Oprah made a comment that this is the first time she has ever endorsed a candidate for president
    What does that say about Oprah??
    Neither she nor Michelle would be where they are had they not lived in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    This is not the first time she has shot off her mouth
    Her attitude that she is owed the first lady spt is the biggest turn off there is
    This country doesnt owe her any thing
    This is just the begiinning of her arrogance popping out

  • Racer X

    says:

    I think the way to look at this is to look through the eyes of someone who is disgusted with Washington Politics, and that’s a hell of a lot of people.

    Are we proud of a system that disenfranchises so many of us? Are we proud of Washington Politics?

    What she’s saying is that she’s proud that finally there seems to be a path to progress that doesn’t involve destroying one party or the other, a path built by the people of the United States of America, not Red or Blue America.

    The wingnuts can spin it all they want, but the proof is in the pudding. The Obamas want what Amerca wants, and being proud of a broken system would be stupid.

  • Thomas Krajewski

    says:

    Did the lady say she has never been proud of her country in the last 25 years? NO, she said she was now she was REALLY proud of her country. She was proud before, but now she was really proud to see the positive response to a call for a better America.

    I was in the service of my country 40 years ago in Louisiana. I saw the white only drinking fountains. I saw white servicemen arrested for disturbing the peace because they entered black bars. I saw Jim Crow in all his ugliness. Ten days ago a Michelle’s husband got nearly as many white votes in that state as McCain and Huckabee did. That made me REALLY proud of my country. I was in the audience yesterday when Michelle spoke. This 60 yr male cried tears of joy as I realized America could reach its full potential.

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    Sharon (#17) – Once again, “the Politico” gets it wrong with its right wing subversion (see Glenn Greenwald for a full history of just who/what “The Politico” is – that this waste of bandwidth is read by anyone, let alone given any consequence, is another indictment of the MSM). TPM went and called the Clinton campaign and has their response, which is that the story is bullshit and Officially Denied.

    See, this is how “The Politico” operates: they go after any Democrat, use whatever doubt anyone in the public has about that person, and come up with some fact-free bit of far right propaganda to use as disinformation to get everyone upset with their own side. Look at whose purposes “The Politico” ultimately serves to know who they are.

    Wait a few hours, “The Politico” will come up with something awful about Obama.

    If people would stop treating “The Politico” as anything other than the subversive Republican disinformation operation it is, it would shortly be out of business.

  • Carrie

    says:

    I don’t care if Michelle Obama is arrogant. Doesn’t matter. I know lots of couples where I like one spouse and can’t stand the other. One person’s behavior doesn’t affect my opinion of the other…not in my community…and not in my elected officials.

  • Sharon

    says:

    Thanks for setting the record straight.

    However, with Hillary’s predisposition to break her pledge on Michigan and Florida and her efforts to take the election via the superdelegates…this story was easy to believe.

    My bad.

  • Joey (bjobotts)

    says:

    It’s only been the last few years that I have not been proud of this country and right now I feel a national shame over the decisions made by this administration.
    I don’t believe it has a thing to do with her being black.
    She has been privileged in many ways and has had opportunities not available to many so when someone in her positions suggests she hasn’t been very proud of her country in her adult life it will get interpreted as “What do you have to complain about?”. I feel sure this is not what she meant or how she thought her statement would be taken. Live and learn I guess because she can expect a lot more “uppity magic negro” crap soon to come.

    I sometimes wonder how those who did the country’s nasty business in the ’60s and early ’70s could ever be very proud of their country again. Maybe they never think about it. But it is virtually impossible to rationalize the Bush era. People have always wanted change but now it has become absolutely necessary to restore our democracy. I wonder if Michelle is confusing enthusiasm and excitement with pride…because this is an exciting time as we all see the end of the Bush regime coming in spite of our elected officials refusing to impeach or stop Bush/Cheney…Now it’s the voters turn and we are counting down the days to do what should have been done 4 yrs ago…get rid of the Bush regime. PS- I felt good about the country during the Clinton years as that whole scandal crap didn’t bother me at all and things seemed prosperous though I now see it was heading in the wrong direction what, with NAFTA and all…but for a few years there all seemed pretty damn good. But this too changed and so will what is going on now.

  • kanopsis

    says:

    If anything, these baseless attacks will increase and be amplified by the media (far easier to report “controversy” than substance).

    I’m sorry to see it, but history has shown it is an effective strategy… even if (or perhaps, because) it generates cynicism in the populace.

    I think Chrisbo is right… But you know, I heard through a friend who knows someone that knows John McCain that he converted to Buddhism while he was held captive in Vietnam, and that he gave away troop locations and movements to keep from being waterboarded.

    Just sayin’…

  • Danp

    says:

    Quick! Someone call the word police. Andrea Mitchell (MSNBC) just said that Chelsea was “stumping” for her mother. Stump = baffle. Once again MSNBC is accusing the Clintons of intentionally misleading the public. 🙂

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    Sharon (#24) said However, with Hillary’s predisposition to break her pledge on Michigan and Florida and her efforts to take the election via the superdelegates…this story was easy to believe.

    And that is how “disinformation” works. It tells you what you are predisposed to believe, in a way that gets past your b.s. detection system.

  • Mr Furious

    says:

    My initial response to the statement was “Oh shit, she is a loose cannon. That’s gonna hurt. Right before the next primary, too…” But just because people aren’t ready to hear something, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said. And while it probably could’ve come at a better time, and been more fleshed out, I think she’s right.

    I look at myself as countless things—a good father, loyal husband, nice guy, even Red Sox fan—before I think of myself as some hyper-patriotic, pseudo-jingoist definition of a “Proud American.”

    We fly a flag on front porch—but there have been times in the last seven years when I haven’t wanted to. I love my life and the opportunities afforded me, but I don’t go around pledging allegiance everyday and contemplating what it means to be “American.” I go to work and raise my family and that’s about it. Maybe that means I’m taking it for granted, but it’s true. And I suspect it’s true for most people, you just expect a certain level of lapel-pin-wearing homage from those seeking national office (and those speaking for them).

    I am turning forty in May, so “my adult life” matches up pretty well with Michelle Obama, who is 44—but only in age. Trying to compare or identify life experience with her or anyone else is just as preposterous for me as it is for any of the countless people sure to be spouting off on this today.

    Here’s the thing: America as a good actor is supposed to be. The norm. The default. But on more occasions than I can count, it has failed to live up to that promise. In fact, on balance, I’d say there are more things to be ashamed of in “my adult lifetime” than proud of—not just because the things many people hold up as “proud moments” should be fucking expected, but because this country has done a lot of shameful things—here and abroad.

    If Barack Obama is elected President, I can honestly say it might be the proudest moment of MY adult life, at least in regard to my feelings about “America.”

    It’s more than the fact that he’s black and what that represents—and that’s plenty. It’s because electing Obama is the strongest possible repudiation of the last twenty years I can imagine, and I think that IS something to be proud of.

    The more I type this, the more I identify with what Michelle Obama had the honesty to say…and I’ve had a pretty good, white bread, middle-class American life with all the trimmings.

    It might have been self-centered, it certainly was ill-advised, but it was honest, and I’m certainly not going to hold it against Barack Obama’s black wife.

  • MsJ

    says:

    Know what? I have lived a (relatively) priviledged life and it’s because I have compassion for ALL Americans (nay , all human beings) that I have been up in arms with all the GOP crap since Unca Ronnie. Being of priviledge does not mean that we cannot and do not feel for those who have not have that priveledge.

    As for being proud of our country, I am less and less so all the time. When you look into what the USA has done to interfere with local goverments in the last decades, and learn what we have done to create the mess we are in (supporting Saddam before we didn’t support him is but one case), what is there to be proud of? We give money to countries only to expect things in return. Nothing our governments have done in years past is altruistic. Sorry, no pride there.

    We are now reaping that which we sowed. Poverty and hopelessness is what creates terrorists. Taking the millions, billions and trillions to wipe out those things is what will “cure” terrorism, but since we want nothing more than to wage war and send all our treasury funds (and borrowed funds) to the MIC instead of doing things for people (both here and abroad), we will never cure this disease. We only continue to spread it.

    And as someone else said, how are we supposed to be proud of invading another country? Of torturing those who we feel like torturing? Of imprisoning people forever with their having no recourse – with little cause? Of spying on us as if each of us is a terrorist?

    Sorry, but I am completely with Michelle Obama here; whether she meant it to come out as it did or not. She’s right.

  • peplz

    says:

    As a black american I can say that I feel exactly the same way as Michelle Obama. I can’t believe that she said it publicly, though. She is a woman with some real brass. The suggestion that any American citizen owes it to be blindly proud or patriotic without critisizing this country is a very dangerous notion. She was ‘allowed’ an ivy league education and her children are ‘allowed’ to go to private school in america being reasons listed why she should never say such a thing shows that bigotry is still alive and well in this country. I am so proud that there are finally a strong contigent of youth voters participating this presidential election season. I am so amazed and proud to see that both a woman (even though she’s married to the ex- president) and a black man can be so successful campaigning for the presidential nomination. Its hard for black people to be proud of America with the history we have here. And moving to a different country is not an option, especially for those of us that have the least reason to be proud. But with this multi faceted and multi cultural coalition of voters and supporters that Barack Obama has been able to bring together he has realized what so many of us have only idealized America to be with his amazing and incredibly inspirational campaign. That is something to be proud of . We don’t care about the Cold War or the internet boom and bust as much as we do about America becoming what it ideally was always meant to be for those of us that live here. And if the change that I feel in America is real then whether Clinton, Obama, or McCain wins the election we will all have something monumental to be proud of for the future. Say that Michelle!

    Obama 08!

  • NonyNony

    says:

    And so begins the “Hillary-ization” of Michelle Obama. I imagine that, by the time her husband’s tenure in office is complete, she will have become completely transformed into a vicious shrew-like harridan who only married her husband to ride to success on his coattails.

    Heaven forbid she has any political aspirations of her own. But hey – another strong female target for the right to use as a slime magnet – they have to be salivating over that prospect.

  • chrenson

    says:

    I don’t see the slightest thing wrong with Michelle Obama’s comment.

    This is great example of why all our political discourse is being ground down into talking points and sound bites. When a person is just talking or being real or answering a question or whatever, they have to worry about a room full of people trolling through every word to find something that could be taken the wrong way.

    My guess is this was one of those exaggerated emotional comments like we all make. Like I might say, “‘Odelay’ is the BEST CD EVER!” In fact, “For the first time in my adult life” is a cliché that a lot of people use to add emphasis to a statement, typically without bothering to review their life from their 18th birthday on before saying it. It’s like “the best I’ve ever seen!” Or “if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times.”

    I can see tomorrow’s headline: “MICHELLE OBAMA TOLD ONE HUNDRED TIMES TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS TO AVOID USING EXAGGERATING CLICHÉS.”

  • john

    says:

    Let me repeat the quote, as printed by several news organizations:
    “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback.” — Michelle Obama
    WOW!!
    This is just a ridiculous and revealing quote by another elitist liberal. If you dont see how this looks terrible to a majority of Americans, you are fooling yourself.

  • chrisbo

    says:

    John 34

    While that may be what is reported, it is not what she said (go figure). Here is the transcript.

    “What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.”

    For me, the omission of the “really” in front of the word “proud” radically changes the meaning of the quote.

    You can watch it at (if the link makes it through): http://www.breitbart.tv/html/49244.html

  • ml johnston

    says:

    Joe Scarborough on Morning Narcisstic JOE was scathing about Michelle Obama’s (the inital )quote-Now we know that was not the real quote) that he alleged Michelle Obama saying. Mika B was very upset about his comments as they were unfounded. Joe S, Mr. Narcissistic owes Michelle Obama an apology.

  • TuiMel

    says:

    Becky @ 19, I, too, fear the race garb.

    Could John Derbyshire be more odious?

    I am not offended by Michelle Obama’s comment, but I will accept the premise that it will offend some – perhaps many – people. I also expect that it will resonate with some – perhaps many – people. Michelle Obama is not a milquetoast, nor a wallflower, nor some vapid political appendage with a disconcerting “thousand yard stare” and perma-smile. She is a strong, smart, independent thinking woman who clearly sees herself the equal of her husband. That is going to undo people such as John Derbyshire who cannot brook that in her husband let alone her. As to those who fear the race garb, well I’m not even going to go there. I imagine their keyboards are crammed full of the crumbs they expelled upon reading Michelle’s comment – edited or otherwise.

  • libra

    says:

    The tone of Hanson’s post is that he is almost personally offended that the Obamas aren’t on their knees thanking America for those Ivy League degrees and upper class incomes. Yeah, because the Obama’s didn’t earn those Ivy League degrees and incomes, they just got them because white folks were nice enough to share. — dnA

    It’s “funny” how worked up some Americans get when the affirmative action gives a poor person or an ethnic minority person a leg up the ladder, via education. But they think the affirmative action in the form of giving preferences to children of alumni and admitting morons because their parents gave a couple mil for a gym is just fine and no prejudice. How else would Bush 43 have been admitted to Yale if not through affirmative action? Not on his own merit, that’s for sure.

    I had seen affirmative action growing up back in Poland. That version was to give extra points to people coming from peasant and working class families — first generation to be educated. Sure it stung, when my A counted as much as someone else’s B for admission. OTOH, I had running water, electricity, a 10 minute walk to school, 5 minutes to the library and a huge encyclopedia on my bookshelves. I grew up with resources which those people didn’t have; my A came much more easily to me than their B came to them. And sure it didn’t always work; some of those people still couldn’t keep up and dropped out. But those who hung on were, often, miles above the rest of us, people who ended up as top intellectuals of the country. Yet, without affirmative action, they’d never would have gotten anywhere.

    Even if both Obamas *got into* the Ivy League schools through affirmative action, they’d never would have *graduated* without hard work; they’d never would have managed if they hadn’t been *capable*. Bush, OTOH, not only got in but skated through college via affirmative action.

    As for demanding that everyone have the “my country, right or wrong” attitude. That attitude is a *bad* thing; it makes you blind to things which are wrong; things which need repair, things which need to be changed. No country is perfect as is.

  • neil wilson

    says:

    What I find amazing is that Rush played the entire quote and included what she said before the quote and after the quote. It seemed like he played about 20 seconds of Michelle Obama.

    Rush still made the point that the only reason she was proud was America was because of her husband.

  • Dan S

    says:

    What Michelle Obama said is a political slip simply because it requires explanation and clarification. You can cite all the history of this country you want to justify and understand it, but anything that can so easily be exploited in a 30-second attack ad by the Republicans is a mistake.

    And note that I said “by the Republicans.” For all the condemnations of how vicious the Clintons have been against Obama, it is nothing compared to what we shall see in the general election from the other side. There has been no advertising onslaught against Obama, demonizing him in the way the Republicans will. And yet Hillary and Bill Clinton have been pilloried by many Obama supporters as the lowest of the low. Any political move they make is taken as evidence of their nefarious nature. This attitude is the result of all the work the Republican noise machine has done over the past couple of decades to demonize the Clintons for the mere practice of politics.

    I agree with NonyNony– this is the beginning of the “Hillary-ization” of Michelle Obama. Look how many supposed progressives swallow the anti-Hillary memes hook, line and sinker. If Obama wins the presidency, Michelle Obama will be the new victim of the misogynistic onslaught. And so-called progressives will echo the hatred of the right, if Barak governs as the moderate that he appears to be.

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    DO AFRICAN-AMERICANS EVER EXPRESS HUMILITY?

    Before the Obama Admin. gets started, it might be smart for blacks,
    inorder to neutralize these types of racial dust-ups, to set gamesmanship, pride, anger & resentment aside, and in essence bow to white European America, proclaiming gratitude…Often young adults, after travelling abroad will return with a new appreciation for what we have built here; It didn’t just engineer itself…And yes blacks made significant contributions at all levels.

    Many African countries have constitutions every bit as sophisticated as our,
    but they’re essentially ungovernable military dictatorships. Would Michelle Obama like to live there? For a gesture of humility, wouldn’t the pay-off be manifold – unless the black agenda is to bring down European America to more resemble chaotic and underdeveloped Africa. In which case, I bow to Madame Obama and will, with all due respect, heed her many instructions.

  • loose cannon fodder

    says:

    Even in full context, some things I think:

    1. Whoever above said the right will ultimately Hillary-ize Michelle is/are correct. She will not be a Barbara or Laura Bush type as first lady, and she will be hated for it.

    2. She says a number of things that are borderline – she does not have the guarded speech that politics seems to require. Even in full context, this is reckless and sure to offend many; her prior candid comment about Barack not trying again in the future because they will change over time in the Senate seemed to be saying outright that they would not “keep it real” over time. At an appearance here she made a comment about “slapping Barack upside the head” that I was just waiting for the press to pick up.

    3. Even taking it at best, it seems dangerously overbroad. One can rightfully be really proud every time we have a peaceful transition of power (yr 2000 excepted), when the Supreme Court does the right thing (like it used to do now and then pre-Thomas), when a past President builds homes for the needy, when Bill Clinton hit just the right note to help those in Oklahoma City heal, etc etc etc etc.

  • MsJ

    says:

    #43 DO AFRICAN-AMERICANS EVER EXPRESS HUMILITY?

    Before the Obama Admin. gets started, it might be smart for blacks,
    inorder to neutralize these types of racial dust-ups, to set gamesmanship, pride, anger & resentment aside, and in essence bow to white European America, proclaiming gratitude…

    This is offensive on so many levels. If what we built here was you, we haven’t done too good of a job. Backhanded compliment AT BEST. Complete racism at worst.

  • Capt Kirk

    says:

    If you dont see how this looks terrible to a majority of Americans, you are fooling yourself. -john

    If you read the article you are commenting on, you know that you quoted the misquotes. If you think repeating a misquote somehow makes it a real quote, or if you think you had a point, maybe it’s you who is fooling himself. If you believe your opinion like that of a majority of Americans, that’s proof enough.

  • Tamalak

    says:

    Before the Obama Admin. gets started, it might be smart for blacks,
    inorder to neutralize these types of racial dust-ups, to set gamesmanship, pride, anger & resentment aside, and in essence bow to white European America, proclaiming gratitude…

    THE COMMAS ARE INVADING

    RUN FOR THE HILLS

  • angus

    says:

    Again, here’s the entire quote:
    “”What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.” ”

    Barack Obama says words matter. Michelle Obama is as much a part of the Barack Obama campaign as Bill Clinton is of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Michelle Obama is a highly intelligent person who was reading a speech. She may or may not have written it, but the fact she was reading means she had a chance to review and think about it beforehand. So she knew what she was saying. If it was strictly an “I” message, well, that tells you how much she considers others in her world view, given that she felt so alone. If it was an “us” message, well, she’s saying that there were no others to comprise an “us” until last year, when the Obama campaign began, and where does that put me and others who have spent their “adult” lives working for a liberal agenda?

    Either words matter or they don’t. Either Michelle Obama knows what she was saying or she didn’t. Pick your poison.

  • chrisbo

    says:

    #47 Mr. Furious

    That is a cleaner video. However, I didn’t miss her saying “really” the other video, glitch not withstanding. The omission I was referring to is in the quote that is being reported by the media.

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    NIP-IT-IN-THE-BUD!

    Before the Obama Admin. even gets started, the genius move would be to
    express some humility and appreciation for white America, to neutralize the racial dust-ups…Not deep bows, just an attitude shift from angry victums, looking to retailiate at the slightest provocation. Otherwise, it’s becomes all about overpowering the critics. Then someone will escalate and things then get ugly – possibly tragic.

    If you say, “Screw it we’re for escalation over capitulation”, you make my point. African Americans, even when about to seat a president, still find it difficult to express humuility. Has billionaire Oprah been unfairly exploited? Has multi-millionaire Tiger Woods not been allowed to compete with honor? It’s the hyper-sensitivity. Every race has had to endure horrific treatment; White, black, brown, yellow…probably green too. Lighten-up, you’re winners! For crying out loud, where’s the magnaminity?

  • Dale

    says:

    for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.

    Maybe before she was just standardly proud of her country. Now shes’ really proud.

    Unifying the country can really only go so far. There will always be bad people and good people. There will be good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things. There will be people who are bad for me but good for you. Being proud of it depends on what you focus on.

  • dalloway

    says:

    Oh, by all means, let’s punish Michelle Obama for honestly expressing how she feels in a nation where African-Americans have only attained legal equality in the last 45 years and still don’t have economic or social equality. None of those rightwing morons has the standing to criticize until they’ve walked in her shoes, which they’ll never have to.

    It’s amazing to me that with all the damage Bush has done to this country, he’s not considered a traitor in line for the gallows. But if a Democrat fails to kowtow to the false patriotism of the right wing, why that’s a mortal sin.

    And by all means, let’s give Dick Cheney a completely free pass for telling a fellow senator, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, to go f*ck himself. That didn’t demean the country much.

    Women, minorities and Democrats, watch what you say or your patriotism will be questioned. Privileged white male Republicans, not so much.

  • Mary

    says:

    African Americans are about 12% of the population. There is no reason why an African American person should have been elected president by now, unless he or she can appeal to voters beyond their own racial identification. Withholding pride in our nation until an African American person is elected suggests a group identity that transcends participation in the larger culture. Obama, if elected, must be president of ALL of the people, including conservatives and bigots, but also women, Latinos, Asian Americans, Jews, atheists, and hyphenated Americans from all sorts of places, all with aspirations for themselves and their groups. If Michelle Obama can only root for her country when it advances her own interests, how does that make her a good person to act as first lady? She needs to drop the ethnic identity (or stop the coded racial appeals to one demographic) and become a representative of the aspirations of the whole nation. That is the problem with her remark, in my opinion. You can say that she was referring to the democrats being in power or some such other recent event, but this was clearly a racial reference to those who hear such things. Obama’s campaign is full of them, since his campaign relies on African American support that the Clintons would otherwise have earned with their long history of work on behalf of African American issues.

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    #48 wrote: THE COMMAS ARE INVADING – RUN FOR THE HILLS
    —————————————————————–
    Fair point…Sorry [comma] I’m only a high school graduate.

    Still Michelle’s ‘tude is not unlike Bill Clinton’s character issue? It’s already been occasionally a topic of discussion. So again [comma] at the outset here [comma] wouldn’t small gestures of humility be the smartest play for all concerned? Or is Obama to be reguarded not just by some [comma] but by all [comma] as a infallible deity?

    Somethings gotta give? Either he’s keeps playing-up the messiah angle [comma] or he (& Michelle) are humble public servants? A gracious and dignified climb-down [comma] or king (& queen) of the mountain? Oh wait [comma] I get it! Bush had corporation telling him what to do [comma] and likewise the Obama’s are waiting for the consultants to tell them when
    it’s time for magnminity…Apologies!

  • Mr Furious

    says:

    #38 TuiMel–

    Nicely put.

    #50 Chrisbo–

    I “heard” it because I knew it should be there, I just think it’s worth pointing out that the more widely circulated video has an inexplicably convenient “glitch” right where it matters most.

  • Matt

    says:

    I love how people keep misstating the quote despite the full correct quote is available in the original post itself..

  • GRACIOUS

    says:

    I’m not black and I have been ashamed of my country for years: Invade Grenada, sell arms to Iran, arm Saddam, send guns to Central America, invade panama, invade Iraq, torture whomever we want, tap every-one’s phone, arrest medical marijuana patients, ignore the plight of HIV-AIDS patients, cut funding for medical treatment for the poor, raise the interest on student loans, and ignore the homeless.

    Come on people; what in the past twenty eight years do we have to be proud of? Even Clinton cut funding for single mothers and forced them into the work force so now we have huge gangs of unsupervised teenagers practicing their own brand of ethnic cleansing in our neighborhoods. And yet, I like Michelle, think it may be time to believe in America again. I hope Obama wins BIG.

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    ELECTION 2008:

    Jaquleine Kennedy was all about demure grace, supported Jack at every turn, or looked the other way, was there to the bloody end. And she was popular worldwide. Laura Bush has virtually seemless grace. On the other hand many disliked the Clintons. And Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Michelle are all too militant for my taste.

    In any case, at a time great triumph, don’t you put potential critics on the defensive by playing the humility card. It’s obviously not a great time for rhetoric that could be mis-interpreted…The Obama’s have alot to adjust too. They are likely the winning team for the next Presidency. You can’t expect them to modulate governing themes & tones to perfection in what is still really the middle of the campaign.

    What upsets me is that African-Amercans have so much to be thankful for.
    Doesn’t this lead to the gist of what Bill Cosby’s controversial advocacy has been about? Blacks are on the field and in the game. So stop lashing out and get down to work? Compete with the Latino community for jobs and benefits. Doesn’t a ‘President Obama’ represent a golden opportunity to further advance educational, economic and community developement opportunities? And Tavis Smiley [like CBR] provides great forums for ideas and personalities. There are alot of opportunities to build if the focus is on using the political and economic power to build, instead of shouting “racist!”

  • Obama guy

    says:

    Obama is our Savior. Please everyone, you must realize that Michelle as a African American has been wronged by america. Obama will treaty with our Muslim brothers. Barak and Michelle need to have the opportunity to create change by teaching americans on the errors of their ways!

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    I’M (sometimes) AN IDIOT & AN OVER-BEARING JERK: But there’s a process some of us [?] have to go through inorder to turn and face the Obama wave that’s about to crash down on America. ..If he’s the best guy to be prez, then okay. I have to get my mind around that. It’s not unlike accepting a former Hollywood actor [Reagan] in 1980…or a peanut farmer [Carter] in 1976…and obviously [?] Dulles/CIA had issues with JFK… Nobody likes changes in their cages.

  • TuiMel

    says:

    BloggingRFun @61
    Laura Bush has virtually seemless grace
    I have no idea what “seemless grace” is, and I have no use for Laura Bush. Just so you know there is at least one countervailing opinion to yours floating free in the universe.

    In any case, at a time [of?] great triumph, don’t you put potential critics on the defensive by playing the humility card.
    Just how much “humility” will be enough? Will you not be happy until she demonstrates the “seemless grace” – WeverTF that is – of Laura Bush? I cannot help it; the notion that Michelle Obama needs to play the “humility card” (or wear the humility garb) just makes me bristle. And, I think it is because I identify with her as a woman, and not an African American woman.

    What upsets me is that African-Amercans [sic] have so much to be thankful for.
    Just out of curiosity, are you upset because African Americans have “so much to be thankful for,” or because they are insufficiently thankful by your lights?

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    I say again to the fRightWankers: IS THIS ALL YOU GOT?

    But really, should anyone care what these schmucks say? Nope.

    The mighty warriors of the blaghosphere spent the past seven years being absolutely disgusting to everyone who doesn’t follow der grupthink to the letter. Now neo-con blogs provide nothing more than a window into a world inhabited solely by panty-waist WATBs who spend all their time sucking their thumbs and wailing for a fresh diaper. No one reads them besides reality based bloggers who need a laugh and the 24% who wish BushBrat could run for a third term. The latter group is irrelevant and becoming more so by the day and pathetic attempts like this only hasten the process. Yer doin’ a heckuva job fRighties!

  • MsJ

    says:

    blogingRfun, Not only are you a racist, based upon your prior posts, but you are a misogynist, too. And to both I say: FUCK YOU!

    I’M (sometimes) AN IDIOT & AN OVER-BEARING JERK: And then some.

    How sad it is for our society that people still think like this. I find it so appalling that this guy can speak this shit with no effort and without the realization of how offensive it is to so many people.

    Sickening, and very, very sad.

  • Strangely Enough

    says:

    But, nothing bad has ever happened in America. How could it?
    I can hear the “love it or leave it” crowd already. If only Bushes statements had received a fraction of this much scrutiny.

  • zoe kentucky

    says:

    I’m watching Keith Olbermann right now and something AMAZING just happened.

    Michelle whats-her-name from the Indendent Women’s Forum– a right-wing, anti-feminist organization that the MSM never identifies as conservative– just DEFENDED Michelle Obama’s quote and said she totally understood what she said and what she meant because she’s a BLACK WOMAN too. I couldn’t believe that a right-wing conservative woman passed up the chance to pile on. Apparently her own experience won over her anti-liberal/feminism bias.

  • Ray Delray

    says:

    Fact is, the conservative and liberal reaction to M. Obama’s comments stem from the exact same source: She said exactly what she meant to say. No “out of context” or “I’ve been misinterpreted” defense will suffice. Here’s a woman who aspires to be the nation’s First Lady, who is, in fact, is now the wife of a United States senator, and her opinion of the country in which she lives is indistinguishable from that of some denizen of a Parisian literary salon. Mark my words, oh believer’s in the inevitability of the coming Obama Nation, she will clarify the remark and more likely apologize for it or the damage will be immense. Frankly, this is fun watch.

  • HG

    says:

    ‘If you have to cut a quote mid-sentence to make a point, you don’t have a point.’

    Nice attempt at some spin. The problem is that both quotes are correct because there were two speeches by Mrs. Obama yesterday using the same speech.
    In the first speech in Milwaukee she said “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country. Because it feels like hope is making a comeback.”

    In the second in Madison she said: “Let me tell you something. For the first time in my adult lifetime I’m really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”

  • locanicole

    says:

    Well, excuse those of us who dont feel proud of our country. What traitors! Our soldiers are fighting to protect our freedom to express out GRATITUDE. And what do we do? We imply that our country has done things to be ashamed of; torture, evisceration of the constitution, spying on our own citizens, etc. Instead of expressing our gratitude, we are expressing doubts in our LOFTY IDEALS (snark) of what the world should be like (yeah! democracy! and freedom!). So, yes, let’s talk about humility, not just those uppity you-know-whos, who should just shut up and sit down, but every single citizen of this GREAT country. Michelle just said what many feel at this time, we yearn for something to be proud of, to live up to the dream and ideals that were started over 200 years ago..So, yes, excuuuuuuuuse me!

  • Misha2

    says:

    It has been a long time since we have “all ” been proud of America…a long long time. As I am not and have not ever been Black or African American, I can’t begin to know how her life was but I know for a great many these United States weren’t being all too good to those whom weren’t white, Anglo-Saxon men. I remember as a teen working and hoping that Bobby would win and change our lives. My Dad died that same summer and nothing has ever filled me with that hope since.

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    POLITE REACTION TO IMPOLITE (OVER?) REACTION:

    I think if African-Americans held annual WE LOVE AMERICA! marches in cities all across the country it would score a great p/r win. I arrived at this concept from solely a geo-political perspective. However on the individual level it’s obviously too jarring for some. So I apologize.

    I’ve donated to Obama and may do so again. If elected I would like to see them have a successful administration. Like I explained, I’m working here to understand and accept with good spirit, where this political revolution may be headed from here.

    I’ve had a boot-of-unjust-oppresion-on-my-neck before so I know what anger is. I work for positive solutions. And advocacy of these WE LOVE AMERICA! marches come’s from a place of generosity. I truely believe as a matter of tactics not submission, that Africans-American’s at this time of a potentially great political triumph, would gain an additional p/r win if they played the humility card.

    Yes in sharing my ideas I sometimes engage in provocative bombast. That’s my style. CBR can respond [again?] to any howls of outrage and delete my post or I assume ban me outright. But in my actions, like this painstaking apology, I make a strenuous effort to be as considerate as is practical of all living thing…And I’m also trying to be more careful about when & where I use commas.

  • locanicole

    says:

    blogingRfun said:
    “.. I truely believe as a matter of tactics not submission, that Africans-American’s at this time of a potentially great political triumph, would gain an additional p/r win if they played the humility card…”

    Possibly if you just stuck with saying that EVERYONE SHOULD TRY TO BE MORE POSITIVE instead of just selecting AA as a group and then using words like submission and humility you might have a little more success getting across your idea. But as of right now all I’m getting is a huge stink of racism…and a strange desire to go wash…go figure…

  • blogingRfun

    says:

    THE STATE OF ‘BLACK’ AMERICA was a disticntion drawn by The National Urban League. And wasn’t The Million Man March organized by and largely for African-American participants?

    Again I think a march of humility (not humiliation) would score political-points for the African-American community. But the idea coming from me, an irreverant blogger is obviously not welcome…I upset now too.

    So again I apoloigize for being careless, and wish everyone well…Also #64
    I re-read you Post and I respect your opinion and again I am trying learn.

  • Sarah

    says:

    blogingRfun, you’re obviously mentally retarded. Stop embarrassing yourself.

    It’s kinda hard to be proud of a country that can only produce people like you.

  • StevenAK

    says:

    This semi-quoting, half truth, Hannity-like “reporting” is such garbage its a shame its given two seconds of air time, but Michelle has to know that anything she says will receive this grade school mentality scrutiny. She needs to have a speech writer reiview all her texts to avoid this in the future.

  • valkyrie607

    says:

    Humility… humility… humility…

    Hmm, seems like a familiar idea. As in, “show some humility you uppity nigga! Be grateful for this here job where I let you sweep up for pennies an hour.”

    Howzabout some humility from the upper classes. Howzabout some gratitude from white Americans towards black Americans for: 1. The enormous amounts of sheer physical labor put forth historically by the black community, which literally built this country, 2. The grace and determination they have shown in emerging from 500 years of brutal repression, violence, and discrimination, 3. The fact that they’re here, participating in the process, showing the rest of us what it really means to “achieve,” 4. The amazing literature and music from the black American community, an amazing feat when you think about it. A people which was repeatedly told, for hundreds of years, that they were less than human, couldn’t think intellectually, and weren’t worth educating, and had these judgments enforced with violence and rule of law, managed still to come up musical forms, poetry, stories, and novels that have transformed American culture.

    What’s remarkable to me, considering all the history, is how bitter black folks aren’t, by and large.

    I’m so grateful Obama is running, as it gives our country a chance to really air out our issues about race. It’ll be unpleasant as the nuts come out of the woodwork, but it’ll be well worth it to finally discredit the disgusting racism that has permeated our politics for too long.