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Target: Michelle Obama
By David KnowlesMay 16th 2008 8:50AM
Filed Under:eDemocrats, Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Viral Video
David, What is your concept of Michelle Obama's statement about the first time being proud of America? To me, it seems like she has a dislike of America.
This sentiment is currently being manufactured for political gain by the Tennessee Republican Party, who has apparently decided that Michelle Obama is the next Reverend Wright. You see, they've put together a catchy little "ad" that replays the would-be First Lady's sound-bite remark over and over again, interspersed with average white Americans (and one Hispanic!) reciting long-winded statements on what makes them proud of America.
Of course, what rankles so many, and what the GOP is attempting to make political hay over, is the qualifier "first time in my adult life." Here's Michelle Obama's clarification:
Look. I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but there are many people in this country whose emotional palate is not entirely composed of the colors black and white. Yes, Michelle Obama's statement--a three second blip replayed ad nauseam--was a political slip of sorts. In tandem with such other manufactured controversies as flag pins and strange sounding names, it might even be enough to tip the balance for some voters away from Obama.
As Barack Obama has often said in this campaign, nuance doesn't play well in politics. You hit your points over and over again, reduce complex issues into bumper sticker slogans. You bash and bash and bash again. But here's the funny thing: that's precisely why the Michelle Obama ad (like the Reverend Wright ads used in Mississippi) will ultimately fail. This ham-fisted attack is too transparent, too repetitive. Moreover, it is, once again, a bunch of Southern whites (and one Hispanic!) beating up on a black woman. The message that these two black people aren't patriotic enough to be trusted with the White House will indeed play to those bigots who already believe as much. But more people will see it for what it is.
Even if you think that Michelle Obama was caught in a moment of candor for her initial remark--that she hadn't ever been proud of America in her adult life until this year--so what? She is proud now, maybe she was proud as teenager, or a toddler. Maybe she went through a bitter phase while delving into America's shameful history of race relations when she wrote her college thesis. The question we should be asking ourselves is, what did her feelings for the country inspire her to do? Did she go postal? Burn any flags? Give whitey the finger? No. No. And no.
What was the context of her remark, anyway? That she was proud at how many new people were getting involved in politics. Oh, the horror! Is there a racial subtext to her comment. Absolutely. As Tom Hanks put, we are poised to elect a person to our nation's highest office who, at one time in our country's history, was only considered three-fifths of a human being. Make no mistake, that is a first.
The GOP should be very wary of attempting to score political points off of Michelle Obama. Who is on the other side of that equation, after all? Cindy "I-will-never-release-my-tax-returns" McCain, the multi-millionaire heiress to a beer-distributor fortune. Do we really want to reduce our potential first ladies into political symbols?
Recent Comments
(Page 1 of 151)RADAY10:41AMMay 16th 2008
FAKE AMERICAN FAKE CHRISTIAN. FAKE GO HOME WE DONT TRUST YOU TWO TALK ABOUT BAGGAGE. THE BEST ONE FOR THE THIS PROUD COUNTRY IS HILLARY!! VOTE HILLAY OR MCCAIN 2008
sheila10:49AMMay 16th 2008
too bad the only thing most of you know is hate...........you are the one who is the fake christian.........but guess who is gooing to be the first lady.....MICHELLE OBAMA.......
Madman10:55AMMay 16th 2008
This is the best the Republicans can come up with? No wonder they are losing so many races.
JR10:58AMMay 16th 2008
Perhaps it was more of a Freudian slip of the tongue (ie, Michelle slipped by telling her TRUE feelings about American). Have you read her college thesis yet?
HILLARY 2008!!!
tom11:00AMMay 16th 2008
After witnessing the last eight years myself, this is the first time in my old age I am really proud of my country too! But after hearing what so many have said, I am not so sure. I know my history, and the history of what the whites have done to the original Americans, the blacks, Chinese Irish and so on. So don't give me no shit about being proud of my country, my country is not perfect and many have suffered as a result. I am not proud of that. And anyone who is proud is either uneducated or one of those 27% who spewout hatred.
THis is the kind of actions I am proud of ---
NEW YORK — The way Sohale Siddiqi remembers it, he and his old roommate were walking his pug Charlie on Broadway when a large, scary bum approached them, stomping on the ground near the dog's head.
This was in the 1980s, a time when New York was a fearful place beset by drugs and crime, when the street smart knew that the best way to handle the city's derelicts was to avoid them entirely. But Siddiqi was angry and he confronted the bum, who approached him menacingly.
Until his skinny, Ivy League-educated friend _ Barack Obama _ intervened.
He "stepped right in between. ... He planted his face firmly in the face of the guy. `Hey, hey, hey.' And the guy backpedaled and we kept walking," Siddiqi recalls.
There was a time before Obama wore tailored suits _ when his wardrobe consisted of $5 military-surplus khakis and used leather jackets, and he walked the streets of Manhattan for lack of bus fare. It was a time well before the political arena beckoned, when his friends thought he might become a writer or a lawyer, but certainly not the first black man with a real chance to become president of the United States.
TJ11:00AMMay 16th 2008
obama wants to run for president. where you gonna put his wife? she is a turn off...
Ralph11:04AMMay 16th 2008
Now that she(Ms. Obama has a chance at the Golden egg) She wants to clarify, her statement) with others helping( David Knowles).
We should all be taken at face value.
Yes, there are not 57 State in the USA!!
tom11:06AMMay 16th 2008
I noticed that Obama is screaming racism....typical VERY VERY TYPICAL!!!!!
Bob11:10AMMay 16th 2008
Fools cannot be reasoned with.
Obama's worshippers are FOOLS !
Dawn11:13AMMay 16th 2008
Are some of you people as ignorant as your comments suggest? The only reason some people latch on to these non issues is racism plain and simple. (And no, I'm not black...I happen to be white.) Anyone that believes these Muslim - America hating lies are just looking for a legitimate reason in their eyes to not vote for Obama. No one wants to admit that it's because he's black. You would think our country would be past this, but no.
John11:14AMMay 16th 2008
The White supremecists are at it again. You see that is a LOSER mentality because America is made up of Native people, Imigrants, and former slaves...most of the white supremecists fall under the "Imigrant" category. Once people worked very hard to make a living they struggled and their hard work paid off then a boat full of lost imigrants appeared asking for handouts..because thier former country wouldnt tolerate thier religion. The People here gave them handouts and helped them..when the imigrants recovered they stole everything from thier hosts and killed many of them..they even stole the idea of thier own Constitution from them..and now today these same people claim ownership and are as ugly and intolerable as ever.Why are they so proud of that legacy you tell me?
JOHN11:22AMMay 16th 2008
Have a look at Obama's 13th ward...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqu3u9ISctA
sblum11:31AMMay 16th 2008
i will never forgive bacrack and michael for taking their children to that hate mongering church
tom11:34AMMay 16th 2008
After witnessing the last eight years myself, this is the first time in my old age I am really proud of my country too! But after hearing what so many have said, I am not so sure. I know my history, and the history of what the whites have done to the original Americans, the blacks, Chinese Irish and so on. So don't give me no shit about being proud of my country, my country is not perfect and many have suffered as a result. I am not proud of that. And anyone who is proud is either uneducated or one of those 27% who spew out hatred. They are not Americans. BTW, I also know my science. The color of skin is the result of certain enzymes in the pigmentation oprocess. If those ensymes are deficient, the result is blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. BUT if the deficiency is estreme the resul is mental illness. So white supremists, according to science, are mentally ill.
THis is the kind of actions I am proud of ---
NEW YORK — The way Sohale Siddiqi remembers it, he and his old roommate were walking his pug Charlie on Broadway when a large, scary bum approached them, stomping on the ground near the dog's head.
This was in the 1980s, a time when New York was a fearful place beset by drugs and crime, when the street smart knew that the best way to handle the city's derelicts was to avoid them entirely. But Siddiqi was angry and he confronted the bum, who approached him menacingly.
Until his skinny, Ivy League-educated friend _ Barack Obama _ intervened.
He "stepped right in between. ... He planted his face firmly in the face of the guy. `Hey, hey, hey.' And the guy backpedaled and we kept walking," Siddiqi recalls.
There was a time before Obama wore tailored suits _ when his wardrobe consisted of $5 military-surplus khakis and used leather jackets, and he walked the streets of Manhattan for lack of bus fare. It was a time well before the political arena beckoned, when his friends thought he might become a writer or a lawyer, but certainly not the first black man with a real chance to become president of the United States.
VIC11:39AMMay 16th 2008
I think Michelle Obama is a pathetic, big mouth who will never see the inside of the White House!
John McCain will win in November and all the cowardly little democrats will have 4 years to cry about it!!
hahahahaha
tom11:40AMMay 16th 2008
Their church is not hate mongering, you are wrong. They are well known for the work they have done for other people. And one of the things they do is try to instill pride in the children. They do not teach white hatred, they teach black love. Why would they have to do that? Because the whites dissed the blacks and the children grow upo thinking they are worthless. And the likes of you are resp9onsible. You are proof of the very hatred that Wright talked about. So knock this crap off, we are sick of it but if you want to keep it up go ahead because you are digging your hole even deeper.
tom11:41AMMay 16th 2008
I am white and I hate you too
tom11:46AMMay 16th 2008
One hundred years from now, when the white race is the minority, they will be a joke, and all the hatred the whites have fostered on the colored will come back to them. Yes, your hatred of people of color will come back to your grandchildren big time. You are doing this to yourself.
devilspeak11:51AMMay 16th 2008
wait until they release michelle obama's big racial mouth about screaming "whitey" inside wrights church. the obama supporters are going to hear the obama's ugly racism for themselves, un deniable, blatant racism. and then come back in here and try to defend both of those un-american racists.
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Jack10:36AMMay 16th 2008
Both Michelle and her husband, hate AMERICA...no matter what comes out of their mouths, is "BS"
Twenty years belonging and supporting a bigoted, anti-American church, speaks for itself