Michelle Obama Finally Proud of USA
Michelle Obama spoke these words in Milwaukee yesterday:
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. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I have seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues. It has made me proud. [emphasis mine]
The Boston Globe‘s Sasha Issenberg broke the story yesterday afternoon with a slightly different quote: “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback.”
DRJ thinks Mrs. Obama merely used the wrong word choice — “proud” rather than “enthusiastic” — as a result of long hours on the campaign trail. But these words appeared scripted to me.
Issenberg asks the obvious question: “So what did Michelle Obama think of the United States before her husband decided he wanted to run the place?”
The reaction from all corners of the blogosphere is similar.
Nothing America has done in Michelle Obama’s adult life, which at 44 goes back 26 years to 1982, has made her proud of her country? Nothing? Not winning the Cold War? Not our regular and orderly transitions of power based on the rule of law? Not the fact that we feed and defend the world, not that we lead in science and technology research, not that we elected the first black president in 1992…nothing? Not the fact that she and her husband were able to go to Ivy League schools before embarking on extremely lucrative careers? Not the fact that we help out in disasters wherever they strike in the world?
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.
This will really turn a lot of people off. For somebody who held a highly-paid PR job, she doesn’t seem to have a clue about how things sound. Someone has to tell her this is a whole new ballgame, especially when the famously sharp Sasha Issenberg is covering her on the campaign trail.
Michelle Obama has a habit of going much too far in promoting what is becoming a personality cult. First she explicitly says that only she and Barack can diagnose the condition of our souls, a highly arrogant claim and one that casts Obama as some sort of secular Messiah. Next, she informs us that we cannot take pride in America unless Obama wins the election. The purpose of the entire country, it seems, is to hoist Obama on our shoulders, and anything else would be what — shameful?
Doesn’t this beg the question, “when did she become an adult”? Yesterday? The question is, will the media pay attention to this gaffe? Probably not much, and that is why the bloggers have to. Will Michelle be this year’s Teresa Heinz Kerry?
Forget matters like the victory in the Cold War; how about only things that have made liberals proud — all the accomplishments of inclusion? How about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991? Or Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s elevation to the Supreme Court? Or Carol Moseley Braun’s election to the Senate in 1998? How about the merely humanitarian, like this country’s startling generosity to the victims of the tsunami? I’m sure commenters can think of hundreds more landmarks of this sort. Didn’t she even get a twinge from, say, the Olympics?
Mrs. Obama was speaking at a campaign rally, so it is easy to assume she was merely indulging in hyperbole. Even so, it is very revealing.
It suggests, first, that the pseudo-messianic nature of the Obama candidacy is very much a part of the way the Obamas themselves are feeling about it these days. If they don’t get a hold of themselves, the family vanity is going to swell up to the size of Phileas Fogg’s hot-air balloon and send the two of them soaring to heights of self-congratulatory solipsism that we’ve never seen before.
Second, it suggests the Obama campaign really does have its roots in New Class leftism, according to which patriotism is not only the last refuge of a scoundrel, but the first refuge as well — that America is not fundamentally good but flawed, but rather fundamentally flawed and only occasionally good. There’s something for John McCain to work with here.
It’s comforting to know that America can vindicate itself in Ms. Obama’s eyes by electing Barack president. But it’s unlikely that even her new-found pride in America, and whatever pride her husband might muster, would be sufficient to cause Mr. Obama seriously to defend its sovereignty.
Podhoretz is headed in the right direction; Mirengoff drives it right off a cliff.
It’s not that Left hates America; few do and I can’t imagine the Obamas are among them. But there is a strain of the elite Left that takes the Chomskyan stance of hyper-self-criticism of one’s own country. In bending over backwards not to be jingoistic and judgmental of others — cultural norms are entirely relative, don’t you know (unless they’re oppressive of people of color or womyn, of course) — they emphasize America’s faults to the exclusion of its good.
It’s a useful stance to take, actually, in private. Self-examination is good. Recognizing our limits in changing the world is good. Understanding how others might perceive us is good. But one doesn’t want to say that they’re not proud of their country if they’re looking to lead it. The Obama campaign needs to walk this one back and pronto. This isn’t the kind of “change” Americans are looking for. And it’s the opposite of “hope.”
Unless, of course, you’re Hillary Clinton, who has to be feeling a little more hopeful than yesterday. There’s a reason that Obama is the choice of wealthy, educated Democrats while Hillary appeals to the working class. Michelle Obama drove that lesson home powerfully with these words.
Transcript and video and Breitbart.
Why does this surprise anyone? Given her husband’s training in a madrassa in the world’s largest terrorist-filled Islamic country and his close ties to Kenya’s corrupt government, it is clear that the Hussein Obamas are reflexively Anti-American.
Really James, its getting harder and harder to take these people seriously. There is nothing this administration can do that will shame them.
The fact that our Attorney General is reduced to using the Nuremburg defence to justify the administrations use of torture, causes barely a ripple of concern to cross their stagnant consciences.
To witness some of the country’s most hard working and successful state attorneys being fired for no other reason than they proved not to be amenable to corrupt practices, is, it seems, of no import.
But not to be proud at all times of our country’s actions, well, pass the smelling salts.
She said, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.”
You don’t see a difference?
Well, what has happened since the 80s that would make someone who isn’t a political junkie feel actual pride in America?
The only thing I can think of is the end of the Cold War. But outside of the televised spectacle of this being History, I don’t think there’s much there in terms of actual American sentiment.
“Really James, its getting harder and harder to take these people seriously. There is nothing this administration can do that will shame them.’
BDS runs amok. What does the administration have to do with this revelation. Unless of course they are controlling Mrs. Obamma’s mind.
There is no question those words were inartfully chosen and uttered, and she surely wants them back—because they are damaging and counter-productive, but I don’t think a bunch of male, white pundits can quite identify with the overwhelming emotional feeling associated with a black woman seeing the country on the verge of a historic national mea culpa by nominating a black man for President.
Just sayin…
Seriously? The country is going to nominate a black man as an apology for its past sins? So, any black man would do? Doesn’t that demean the man’s candidacy?
What Mr. Furious said.
Good grief James. We know what Mr. Furious means to say, just as we know what Michelle Obama meant to say. This is getting silly.
Actually, I have no idea what either Furious or Obama “meant to say.”
What Obama actually said is she has never once been proud of her country in her adult lifetime and what Furious actually said is that white people aren’t allowed to comment on things that black people say. Both seem patently absurd.
I know that we all like to say we’re “proud” of our country and all, but really, pride isn’t what we are referring to when we say that. Seriously, are you ever proud of America the same way you are proud of your children? When was the last time you wanted to turn to a complete stranger and say “That is my country, isn’t it great” the way you would if your son just hit a home run?
We don’t usually have the kind of intimate connection with the concept of “country” like we do with family, because the country is big and distant and we rarely ever connect with any part of it outside of our local community, family and friends. I like my country, I even love my country, I want it to do well and do good, and it makes me happy when it does, but that doesn’t even begin to compare to how I feel about my children when they do well and do good.
So maybe this really is the first time that Michelle Obama has felt a deep intimate association with the entirety of our country to be able to feel that same kind of pride. It seems to me that meeting supporters across the country during a national campaign is one of the few things that might give you that kind of connection with the country as a whole.
Guilty. Of course since I’d argue that that should be a requirement of anyone in office, not a disqualifier.
I do not want someone who is enamored of the US to have access to our nuclear arsenal. I do not want a cowboy who believes in their country right or wrong to have the power to avenge any slight with ballistic missiles and the world’s most expensive military.
I very much want someone who regards the nation with some measure of trepidation, with a sense that we are not in fact the center of the universe, and that other people do have some right to exist on “our” planet.
That’s the only type I see as being even slightly trustworth for the position.
To put it another way what kind of egotist bordering on actual psychopathic megalomaniac do you have to be to think the US is the “shining beacon on the hill” and that you, yes *you*, are the one person deserving to be its leader?
That kind of hubris is not only revolting, it is disturbed.
Agreed.
Disagreed. There are some very positive aspects to such a change, certainly enough to call them hopeful.
Consider that we might stop being the world’s heavy. We could stop being the one the world just expects to take care of problems. We put ourselves in that position and much of the rest of the world has cynically used it to their advantage.
We can stop being hated and feared for having a dominant and often used military. That’d be a great change for the better. We could save money and lives and improve many international relationships.
We could drastically reduce the threat of terrorism, because terrorists do not hate us for our freedoms. They hate us because of our meddling in their countries. Without the sickening overweaning pride that is de rigeur for politicians we might just strike a more reasonable stance with regards to what forreigners do in their own homes.
That’s a “change” I “hope” to see someday (although I’m not at all sure Obama is capable of delivering it).
On a slightly different take, why are Democratic political spouses such a touch stone for the right. We’ve pretty much ignored every ignorant utterance of Laura Bush, and most on the left spent almost no time scrutinizing or mustering up much dislike for Barbara Bush or Nancy Reagan, except for when it looked like Nancy might have been running the White House. Juxtapose that with the treatment of Hillary early on before there was even a good reason to hate her and Teressa with maybe Tipper as the exception. Her statement was obviously a bit of hyperbole, but I can’t help but see the beginning of Michelle as a focus of the rights attacks. I doubt anyone on the left much cares who McCain’s or any of your other candidates spouses, because they aren’t the candidate.
From my heart to America:
This comment, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country,†The key words being “really proud”. I as a 35 year old black man who grew up in suburban Virginia Beach, VA and having both white and black friends growing up, mostly white, always tried to move on past racial divisions of our countries past. Although I had white friends, I could still feel the resentment of their parents for their child befriending a black kid. Sometimes I had to wait outside in the hot sun and wait for my friends to get ready, never being invited in by the parents. I felt that, even as a child. I too share her feelings in some aspect. I think I can speak for most blacks, hispanics, asians or any other minority, that it really does make you proud to know that white males, white women are truly getting past our past and coming together regardless of race. This brings tears to eyes of most blacks, that we are a country for change and the past is truly becoming the past. For her to even say this “being an inner truth” that only those with an oppressed past really can understand. I too applaud America more than I have any other time in my life. Whether he win or lose, I too am “really proud” to be an American. Thank you.
The problem isn’t that she used the wrong words, it’s that we’ve come to use pride and shame as a false dichotomy.
I’ve never in my life been proud of you, James. That isn’t to say that I’m ashamed of you, or disappointed in you, it’s just that you are too distant from me for me to feel pride about anything you do.
How much more distant is the nebulous concept of “country”, that can mean any combination of land, populations, ideals or traditions depending on who you ask?
Davod,
Apologies for not being clearer. I was of course, obviously I thought, referencing the reactions to the revelation.
It does seem odd that the high horses of Bush republicans are always at the ready, to be mounted at a moment’s notice when someone questions the greatness of our country, but remain unsaddled, munching on dry bullshit when the freedoms generations of Americans have fought and died for are thrown away.
I understand that for some in America, such thinking is considered deranged, but their numbers, thank God, are dwindling by the day.
A mind is such a terrible thing to waste. What passes for M. Obama’s mind appears to have been in coma for the last twenty-six years. We won the Cold War. Liberated eastern Europe. Liberated Kuwait. Aided millions of Tsunami victims. And M. Obama can find no reason to be proud.
The waiting is over, come get your nice hot mud over here — value guaranteed. Packaged in the best quality patriotism and righteousness. Uncontaminated by national issues such as health care, torture, etc. Get your mud by the handful here, we sell only the best, original mud…
Obama is a girly man, cannot control what his wife says!!!
Michele runs at the mouth, how can we consider Obama as a future President?
Michele in the White House? We already had two lawyers in the White House, and we know what happened.
It is going to her head, Obama’s wife is starting to act like Hillary
Jup, not only the most fantastic mud, but as you throw it, you don’t have to think. Relieve that tension, get rid of your aggression, throw some of our fine mud. It splatters, but will never splatter on you…
Isn’t pride one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian theology?
LoL, imagine that. a 40-something black woman has a more conflicted opinion of America than you do. It’s not about a lack of patriotism, it’s about a lack of faith.
Parsing words is something lawyers and hacks do. Her meaning is clear. Anyone who’s ever loved anyone knows that you won’t always be proud of them, but that will never change how much you love them. Anyone who fails to understand this hasn’t ever loved anything, including their country.
Cian:
I tend to agree with what some others have said. Mrs. Obamma is no fool. She and her husband are waging a great insurgent campaign (although no one would call it an insurgent campaign anymore).
They have bested the Democratic party. I doubt anyone in the Democratic party thought they had a chance initially.
With this said, I do not for one minute think anything Mrs. Obamma says is a slip of the tongue or a misplaced thought.
The issue here is how many times you and others will try to shift the blame to the Administration when one or the other says something the mainstream may not like.
And while we are at it. I think Bush and Cheney have been remarkably restrained during the time they have been in office. As they should, they have been representing the country more than themselves or the Republican party.
I would have no problem voting for JC Watts.
What’s the difference between what Michelle Obama said, and Dennis Hastert saying that Ronald Reagan “restored our faith in America and made us proud to be American again”? So he was ashamed to be American until January 20, 1981? Doesn’t sound very patriotic to me.
I remember the first time I felt REALLY ashamed for my country. I was watching CNN with an international crowd at the Vancouver Airport three days after Katrina. The feeling of shame was overwhelming.
I’ve been very proud of my country many times over the years but the last time I remember feeling extraordinary pride to rival that feeling of shame was the Moon landing when I was seven years old. I felt proud during the bicentennial, shuttle launches, Olympics, fall of USSR, Kuwait liberation, and Clinton era boom as examples. I’ve been ashamed during Watergate, stagflation, Iran hostage crisis, 2000 election, the unprovoked Iraq invasion, torture…well, just say the last seven years. In that airport lounge though, I felt really ashamed.
I know how Michelle Obama feels. If America lives up to its creed by electing Barack Obama president, I will be REALLY, extraordinarily proud of my country.
Michell Obama . . . I can’t imagine her as First Lady . . . Wakeup America. Before we have another phony president and an equally phony First Lady. . . She is proud now because she feels things are going Obama’s way. What happens when he is called to task for being a plagiarizer and a sound bite candidate. Maybe his slogan should be changed to “Words we can Believe”
The Obama campaign needs to walk this one back and pronto. This isn’t the kind of “change†Americans are looking for. And it’s the opposite of “hope.â€
Geebus James, you’re really reaching. Your “not getting it” seems to be pretty lame strategy but I suppose with material like “Keating” McCain, you have to go with election strategy you have, not the election strategy that you’d like to have.
You’ll need more practice with the mock outrage, though. You don’t have nearly enough hysterics or exclamation points to make anyone really believe that you’re this dense such that this is a major outrage to you.
As I said, you’ll have a lot of practice between now and November 5.
Davebo,
A wonderfully Orwellian construction. ‘Remarkably restrained’ meant something different not so long ago.
Certainly there is nothing restrained about breaking the law (torture, domestic spying, destroying evidence) or restrained in how they systematically set about frightening the country into an unnecessary war through false alarm and misinformation.
They have, however, after a strong start, shown remarkable restraint when it comes to pursuing the master planners of 9/11, all of whom remain alive and kicking, and are busy growing their terror network safe in the knowledge that the most incompetent leadership America has ever experienced has another 12 months to go.
But if that’s the kind of thing that makes you proud, hell, go for it.
Cian:
I wondered how long it would take you to withdraw into your wonderworld of leftist pap..
Look people, James is living the dream, and has every reason to be damn proud of America!
Leftists and other people around the world with inferior televisions sets can just pucker up and…
I’m kind of amused at the reason she’s suddenly proud; because people are hungry for change? Did she somehow miss the fact that people were hungry for change in 2000? Or (since she’s a Democrat) in 1992, when every other word out of Bill Clinton’s mouth was “change”?
I do think that for a lot on the left, the only thing they like about America is that they can criticize it.
I do think that for a lot on the left, the only thing they like about America is that they can criticize it.
My, what a stunningly original conclusion for someone on the right.
Keep running with that.
Interesting how Condi Rice, who grew up with firebombs, never advised the president based on her being black. Collin Powell never negotiated with other countries based on the color of his own skin. Justice Thomas has never made a decision based on his skin pigment. Yet here we have a black candidate for president running mostly on the fact that he is black. Democrats, if they therefore nominate Barack Hussein Obama, are the biggest group of racist ever. Even larger than the original group of slave holders in the south.
Barack Hussein Obama’s wife has never been proud of her country, apparently just because she is black? OMG come on! Black racists. I wonder what kind of country we will have if Obama wins. Dogs turned loose on white people? Designated white seating areas on the back of Amtrak? Violent black criminals released from prison on the grounds of discrimination? All black Secret Service (muslims maybe?) and US Marshall’s service? Ahhhh….an America only Mrs. Obama (and fellow (liberal) racists) would be proud of! Wouldn’t you agree?
Gotta be proud of these comments, eh James?
I’ll also add that reading the comments so far, it really is a mystery why the Republicans only manage to garner
I’ll also add that reading the comments so far, it really is a mystery why the Republicans only manage to garner < 1% of the black vote. Truly, it must be due to the mind altering rays that democrats have been using to convince them to vote against their best interests
Now that’s quite the thesis, Chris. First of all I know for a fact that a number on the right have indeed trumpeted Rice, Powell, Thomas, as well as many others, for simply being “black while republican”.
That alone shoots yourt theory all to hell. But on top of that while I am not uber-enamored of Obama, to say he’s running purely on his race is frankly idiotic. He’s running on his charisma, and doind a sadly credible job of it.
It is especially funny that you bring up a total hack like Thomas who is ONLY on the bench because of his race. He brought absolutely nothing else to the table, and his performance on the bench has been embarrassing for all concerned. His entire carreer is thus:
74-77 assistant AG of Missouri
77-81 corporate whore for Monsato
81-82 assistant sec of education
82-90 chairman of EEOC
90-91 Appeals court judge
91 Supreme court appointment
His ABA rating was not exactly something to brag about. His history of sexually harrassing women doesn’t scream jurisprudence.
He’s an utter clown, foist upon an unfortunate nation by people who desired his skin color associated with their party for once.
wow, Spock! er, I mean Tlaloc…you know for a “fact” about republicans views of Rice, Powell, and Thomas are racists in nature? You are so smart! The joke is on conservatives then, for putting so many minorities-and many more than democrats ever have-in such positions of high political power.
Also, Thomas never was a whore for anyone, or was guilty of harassment. Read something other than your local liberal paper.
Try some other facts: Barack Hussein Obama’s people are already spinning this as an attack on Mrs. Obama because she is black (see CNN, your own liberal network).
And Hal: don’t be so smug over there. Blacks are bribed by the billions of dollars every year by the racist liberal political machine. It is up to Republicans to stay diligent with the correct non-racist message that opportunity is everywhere in this great nation, and that all are created equal.
It is up to Republicans to stay diligent with the correct non-racist message that opportunity is everywhere in this great nation, and that all are created equal.
I remember my first beer, too.
You claimed Dmes were automatically racist for electing someone because they were black. I’ve heard republicans boast about the “blackness” of Rice and Thomas and Watts and others. So by *your* logic the republicans are automatically ractists. See this is a lesson to teach you to be a little more careful with your aspersions, because you are sloppy enough that they come back on you awful easily.
Uh, Chris…
from the CRS. You know if you wanted to be accurate or anything…
Three women testified under oath, before congress, that he harrassed them or someone they knew.
I really don’t see what the big deal is all about. I haven’t been proud of my country either ever since the U.S. Supreme Court handed the election to Bush.
I haven’t been proud that my country uses 9/11 as an excuse to use scare tactics to get people to vote Republican with their “yellow” or “orange” terror alerts. I’m not proud that my country has abandoned civil liberties under the facade of fighting terrorism. I’m not proud that Bush uses 9/11 to score political points. I’m not proud that the Fairness Doctrine was revoked so that conservatives control 90% of the U.S. media.
And finally, I’m not proud that I can’t hand out literature in public promoting my favorite candidate without being harassed and bullied by a conservative 20 year old frat punk in an attempt to embarrass me and draw negative attention towards me from staring passersby just because he doesn’t like the candidate I’m supporting.
Conservatives will look for anything to swift-boat their opponents. Conservatives are intolerant towards free speech and will do anything to make the U.S. undemocratic.
To those who tell me “if you’re not proud of this country, you have a right to leave,†I have three words for people like you: go to hell. I will not leave this country. I will stay here and fight for changing this country and will stay here just to be a thorn in the side of you conservatives.
As long as I’m alive, you’re not going to turn my country into a right-wing dictatorship.
E-mail me at ve**********@ho*****.com with your thoughts.
I haven’t been proud of my country either ever since the U.S. Supreme Court handed the election to Bush.
This reminds me that I don’t think there was a single Republican who was proud of their country during the Clinton administration. In fact, I’m willing to wager a large sum of money that if Hillary would win the election in Nov, the sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth would be literally deafening.
Yes Hal, there was a lot to be ashamed of during the Clinton years. Peace, Prosperity… the rule of law. You must have been deeply ashamed.
You must have been deeply ashamed.
Um… I’m a democrat. I like Bill Clinton. I voted for him twice.
Not sure what you’re point is…
Ah, democrat on democrat. Makes me want to puke. C’mon, lets get the racist Hal together with the asian boy anjin-san, maybe you boys can make sweet love together.
Hal, I am a republican, and I was still proud of my country when Clinton was prez. Course, he was a huge moderate, hardly did anything at all, and reaped the benefits of the cold war ending. While he did appoint too many liberal judges and leave the country in a recession, he wasn’t all bad. See, I love my country and I would never let govt. get in the way of that. Obama and liberals hate their country and would use govt. to change it to their socialist way of thinking.
Finally, I love this ve**********@ho*****.com
guy! LOL! I don’t think we have ever had a Vegas whore-and liberal!!!-on OTB before! James, this is a first! LOL!
Wow James. You have some pretty classy commenters.
Here’s the correct video.
It captures Michelle Obama spinning her comment from “I’m proud” in the 1st speech to “I’m really proud” in the 2nd speech.
Sheessh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGjR81pFJI4
You aint see nothing yet!! Per Michelle,it is either the Obama way or the highway.What a shame.For all America has done,Michelle has seen nothing good until now!!
Oh well,Americans can look forward to being laughed and mocked at.It is plain and simple.She is very unpatriotic and to have made a statement like that openly insinuates that She is not coming in as a Unifier but an outright divider.
They have been voted for by white people and she should comprehend that people have moved passed the race issue but I would imagine,Michelle cannot hide her racism.
At this point,we can just go ahead and welcome GOP canditate mccain as next president!!
Michelle,you have let me down!!!
Sorry Hal, I misread your comment… reading and posting on the fly.
That’s what I figured 😉
No enemies on your left…