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Michelle Obama in the Spotlight
As Barack Obama's star continues to rise (super-delegates are defecting en masse to his banner), every aspect of his life will come under increasing scrutiny. And in today's political climate, such scrutiny extends to the candidate's spouse. Thus, Michelle Obama has become the focus of intense attention as of late.
First, Barack Obama was forced to douse several fires when his wife proclaimed, "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country." Many (particularly conservatives) questioned this apparent lack of patriotism and egregious negativity in the would-be first lady. Barack Obama provided slight cover (and slender justification) by contextualizing Michelle's statement within the context of American politics - rather than the nation as a whole.
Now, Politico has published Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's (Ms. Obama's maiden name) college thesis. The young Princeton senior's thesis, entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community," reveals an race-conscious student's sensitivity to racial differences and yearning for racial identity. In a telling, autobiographical lamentation, Michelle writes that she fears her time at Princeton promises "further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."
The thesis had been pulled by Princeton until Nov. 5, 2008, but the Obama campaign released the thesis without hesitation upon request. Did Princeton fear that a race-oriented focus in Michelle's college years might harm the Obama campaign? I assume Barack Obama properly assessed that the potential scandal of obscuring the document would have outweighed any possible reaction to its release. That is, Barack seems to have trusted America far more that Princeton - not a high standard to meet, but meritorious of the candidate nonetheless.
Recent Comments
(Page 1 of 8)Davidg10:01AMFeb 24th 2008
Can you even imagine having to listen to Barack and Michelle Obama for 4 years?
Their act gets old and boring very quickly.
JOHN10:01AMFeb 24th 2008
THIS LADY LOOKS LIKE A CHICAGO STREET FIGHTER.YUK!!!
Dusty10:21AMFeb 24th 2008
You Billary lovers die hard! :D
JAMES SCHULKE10:22AMFeb 24th 2008
THIS WOMAN WILL BE THE PERSON WHO WILL RUN THIS COUNTRY IF FER HUSBAND IS ELECTED PRES..GRAB YOUR COAT AND RUN SHE IS NOT AN AMERICAN AND I DO THINK HER HUSBAND IS A GOOD AMERICAN..TO CLOSE TO THE MSSLIM REG...
Yosef Ortiz10:31AMFeb 24th 2008
katherine,
you meant:
Obama is the best....gay.
They say that when we are motivated by factors outside our presence and right state of mind like; alcohol, drugs, argument, emotional speech people will tell their REAL FEELINGS AND OPINIONS. This is what this lady did, she does not care for the real America.
All Hussein and their camp are going to do is spend the economy in programs to help the deadbeats and the lazy to find a job. Memo to Hussein! Tell them to get off their butts and apply in any Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. they are hiring.
He is going to create job placement offices (which we have private companies do this now)and pay six figure salaries to all his volunteers and we the middle class that is non-black or muslim will be screwed.
PeaceofChristBwithU10:44AMFeb 24th 2008
Michelle Obama wrote this thesis around her 21 birthday. She is now in her mid 40s. I shutter to think of being judged by my thoughts as an undergrad. Even more importantly, the world was different then - racism was more real - we had not seen black senators or governors or secretaries of state. How about we judge Michelle Obama by her recent accomplishments instead - wife, attorney, mother, community organizer, etc. I knew Congressmen Keith Ellison in law school. He is touted now as the first Black Muslim US Congressman, and he rarely bring issues of race into the discussion. But in law school, he was more of an activist. The thing is, that was almost 20 years ago, and we have all grown up since then and the world has changed. This "Michelle is not patriotic" story has some legs - they both need to nip this in the bud now. Stand in front of the biggest flag you ever saw. Host a "10 things about America that make me proud" essay contest. Put on that flag pin and pretend its a substitute for real sacrifice for America. Like it or not, we've gotten really addicted to this nonsense. So put your hand over your heart in a display that has not been common since Nixon was President. End your speeches with "God Bless America." Its all theater and if it gets you to to White House so you can effect real change, just do it.
Linda10:57AMFeb 24th 2008
Too bad that the media has determine who will be the next president. No matter what Sen. Clinton does or says she is reported as her being a shrew, old hat or worse. Everything Sen Obama does is lifting and inspiring. I don't think Putin will be inspired nor will Raul Castro. As the recession grows worse transformational leaders just uplift; they give us hope and short term solutions because the details required for real change just are not part of their repertoire. The Obamas are Harvard and Princeton grads - far removed from "we, the people". Media bias is doing us and the candidates a great disservice.
Democrat11:02AMFeb 24th 2008
Michelle Obomba has a big"Chip" on her shoulder. She's radical and so is he. I pity our country. Let's vote for Ralph Nader, finally another option!
Raoul11:07AMFeb 24th 2008
She is a neo-racist black; the recipient of so much institutional generosity spat back at the white establishment as veiled well-wrought criticism, but really nothing more than deep-seated unmitigated hate for whites. Watch Out! The Obamas are black first and American second. We are all being fooled by this second-rate car salesman with a black agenda, not an American one...
Im achin11:35AMFeb 24th 2008
Ralph Nader is the hamburger helper of boring election year politics. He always makes his move well into the process and makes the liberal nonsense more palitable to the moderate voter... Truely a great scam move by the extreme left
CC11:39AMFeb 24th 2008
IT'S ABOUT TIME OBAMA AND HIS LOVELY MICHELE-- THE RACIST ONE= TAKE SOME HEAT- SO FAR THEY HAVE THE BEEN OFFERED A FREE PASS ON EVERY DAM THING THEY DO. NO MATTER WHAT IT IS.. HAS ANYONE ELSE BEEN OFFERED THAT LUXURY- AND HOW MUCH DID IT COST OBAMA ??? WITH YOUR EASY PASS SO FAR - SURE ENOUGH YOU OWE ALOT OF FAVORS.= I AM SURE OPRAH IS PAYING THE TAB- YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS - THESE PERKS ARE NOT COMING FREE..IF YOU WATCH OBAMA CLOSELY WHEN HE GIVES HIS SPEECHES YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE HE HAS BECOME OBNOXIOUS- NOT GRACIOUS AS BEFORE- HE STRUTS LIKE HE IS THE TOP DOG AND NOT ONLY HAS HE GOTTEN 97 PERCENT OF HIS BLACK VOTERS-WHO STOOD BEHIND THEIR RACE. THE WHITES ARE ON BOARD ALSO.=AS HE IS LAUGHING ALL THE WAY. AS YOU HAVE CLEARLY GIVEN HIM THE STATUS HE WANTS...AND THE STRENGTH HE WANTS-HE BELIEVES HE IS UNSTOPPABLE - I CAN'T WAIT TILL THEY TEAR HIM APART AND HE KNOWS HOW IT FEELS TO GET HIS LIFE AND HIS FAMIL'YS TORN APART BIT BY BIT- UNLIKE HILLARY WHO HAS HAD THE MOXIE TO STAND UP EVEN WHEN THE WHOLE DAM WORLD KNOWS HER LIFE'S HISTORY- HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD HAVE THE BALLS FOR THAT- NOT MANY GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.. OBAMA LIKES IT BECAUSE NO ONE HAS CREAMED HIM YET. LIKE THEY SAY ALL THAT GOES AROUND --COMES AROUND. GET READY FOR THE RIDE OBAMA MAY IT SHOW YOUR TRUE COLORS....!! YOU HAVE HAD NO TROUBLE DISHING IT OUT... LET'S SEE HOW YOU CAN TAKE IT.... OH YEA-- I KNOW YOU SAID YOUR TOUGH... EASY TO SAY WHEN NO ONE'S ON YOUR BACK EVERY TIME YOU TURN AROUND- OR DITCHING YOUR WIFE AND YOUR FAMILY... WAIT AND SEE IF YOU FEEL THE SAME AFTER IT HAPPENS TO YOU... AND PLEASE DONT USE THE FREAKIN RACE ISSUE... ITS GETTIN OLD.......I DO BELIEVE YOU HAVE MILKED THAT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH... REMEMBER RACISM BEGINS AT HOME.
nel11:57AMFeb 24th 2008
Obama and Michelle are all on a race war crusade..To BAD THE YOUNG WHITES DON'T SEE IT...Wait until you can't get a job unless you are black..Sorry to say this but listen to Michelle. She's very militant, and obamba answers questions by. oh, hun, stuttering, because he would like to yell hey I am black...Vote for Hillary...
BRENT12:01PMFeb 24th 2008
January 16, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
In 1991 a young Muslim Harvard Law College graduate named Barack Hussein Obama (who has denied his Islamic past and Muslim roots for as long as he has been a public figure) became a civil rights community activist working out of the Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama worked as a community organizer for Trinity in poor black neighborhoods. Trinity's senior pastor Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr, a black racist, who preached radical Afrocentric theology and didn't mind delivering profanity-spiked sermons found a congregation-builder in Obama. Because of what Wright called Obama's multiple-faith background and his Harvard education, he was a natural community-builder.
privatedancer18412:02PMFeb 24th 2008
Cindy McCain once had a drug addiction to pain killers, that she stole when her doctor shopping spree ran out!!!
Willow4912:04PMFeb 24th 2008
Mrs. Obama's thesis basically described her feelings of insecurity at Princeton and her perceived feelings of predjudice from the faculty and fellow students. It also querries how her subsequent ivy league education would leave her (and previous African-American Princeton graduates) in a pickle. Would they use their higher education and incomes to reach back to help those less fortunate in the African-American community, or would they strive to move for more acceptance in white corporate and social societies? I believe she has found a balance. She has a life any woman, Black or White, would envy. So why is she just now "proud" of America. I think America has done pretty well by her. Granted, she did the hard work, but this country gave her the opportunity.
Jean Smith12:14PMFeb 24th 2008
If Obama is not a muslim why did he take his oath of office as a U.S.Senator on the koran and not the bible if he is a christian as he professes. Scary.
Michelle12:36PMFeb 24th 2008
Goooood Morning Hate Mongers!!!!!
WOW!!!
Jean Smith, he didn't, it was another Senator. Read Something factual for once in your life!
I read this BS and its amazing how stupid it sounds!
I'm white female and in my 40's, I'm informed to the max!! I saw the speech in which Mrs. Obama said that for the first time in her adult life she was proud to be American. Well let me tell you I feel the exact same damn way! How can I be proud of a president that has chipped away at MY civil rights? I'm not, in fact I'm pissed!! Obama supporters need to wake up?? please, its the other way around, WE HAVE and we don't like what we see! I'm tired of the haves telling the have nots, "you are not worthy of the same life that WE live." therefore you are less of a person.
I give a big ole fat BITE ME to all you hateful people out there, I'm sick of you all!!!
Michelle Obama is a very intellegent person, and I beleive she speaks more for me than say another weak woman standing by her man on yet another scandal (Cindy McCain). So vote for Hillary or McCain if you want business as usual. If you want change, you know what you have to do, If you are a TEXAN, as I am, vote in the primary , then Caucus! Make your voice heard!
Obama '08
gramdma5512:37PMFeb 24th 2008
I think that from the statements that Obama`s wife has made since the start, they are racists. How Obama will "do for our people if he is president." the statement about her feeling "proud for the first time in her life to be an American." She has had more opportunities than most and so she needs to get over it.
Even if some people work hard they never get a break in life.
Obama needs to stop saying things that aren`t true in his speedhes and flyers about Hillary . She was the first to say that her health care would be subsidised for the people that couldn`t pay,not him. He has changed his stand on alot of things and if you followed both party speeches you would see it clearly,and not just his good speeches and fanfair approach!! People wake up before this country is worse than under Bush!!!!! Vote for the only one that can get this country straight again and that is Hillary!!!
Bonnie12:37PMFeb 24th 2008
It must have been terrible having to attend Princeton as an African American. What a problem receiiving such a prestigious education and possibly then having to relate to white America. SOB,SOB, SOB.... I would imagine many young people would have liked that problem. Racist Obama's! Wake UP AMERICA! The OBAMA"S ONLY CARE ABOUT THE OBAMA'S!!
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Katherine8:56AMFeb 24th 2008
BS.
Can't these AOL Political Bloggers come up with a new angle??
HOLY CRAP!!
Same news every day!!!!!:
I hate Hillary.....waaaahhhh.
Obama is the best....yay.
SO boring.
These writers are HACKS! Must be sucking up to Ted Turner--same guy who owes CNN---notice, the message is the same. BORING, weak, unimaginative, unoriginal, undaring, and tediously predictable.
In the meantime, did you see Tina Fey on SNL? Especially during her New Update segment? Holy hell, it was SO exciting, exhilarating, and BRAVE for her to come out and support Hillary in such a HUGE way.
OMG, people are SO bored of the Obama butt kissing....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz