Words and Attitudes Do Matter

If you have not read the lengthy interview and story on Michelle Obama in the upcoming March 10th issue of The New Yorker, I suggest you do so. The piece is a glimpse into the workings of her mind. I am curious if some of her remarks are questioned by the press. I doubt it but if Cindy McCain said some of the statements Michelle Obama said, you can believe it would be all over the place.

I don't think Michelle Obama belongs in the White House, as First Lady. I think she will require a press office that has to make apologies and excuses for her lack of tact and applauded as honesty. Michelle enjoyed reminding the audiences in South Carolina that her family roots are there in that state. Bless her heart. Think Teresa Heinz-Kerry with a more folksy touch. Obama very much understands changing her speech according to the audience. The last thing we need, in today's climate in the world, is a First Lady chastising fellow Americans with a chip on her shoulder.

Michelle Obama, like her husband the Presidential candidate, has been the beneficiary of a charmed life. The question is, do you see the glass as half full or do you see it as half empty? The answer reflects how you will use your time in the White House. Mrs. Obama has taken the opportunities and yet still doesn't sound grateful. She sounds as if she is Michelle from the hood, when in fact she is Michelle living in a $1.65 million dollar Georgian Revival mansion in Hyde Park, according to the magazine. It is the property that now may come back to haunt them, as it was purchased with the help of Tony Rezko, now on trial for corruption and bribery in Chicago. Rezko is a 20+ year contributor to Barack's political career and part of the Chicago political machine, as is Barack.

The writer of the article, Lauren Collins, would like the reader to know the Hyde Park mansion has a wine cellar with a capacity for 1,000 bottles and the bookcases are made of Honduran Mahogany. Along with the full time housekeeper and the four times a week visits from her personal trainer, Obama's life is a bit different than the ordinary voting woman's.

Wouldn't speeches with the theme of look what is possible with hard work and a good education be more uplifting than America is bad and going to hell?

After Barack was elected Senator in 2005, Michelle's salary from her job at the University of Chicago Hospitals jumped from $121,910 to $316,962. This was explained by her bosses that her salary was brought into line with other vice-presidents at the hospital. I guess the timing of the large salary increase was just a coincidence. The author notes that Michelle has "spent most of her life working within the two institutions for which she most frequently claims a populist disdain: government and the health-care system".

The author is thorough in her coverage of Michelle's days growing up and her family ties. The author notes the presence of the Obamas on the philanthro-social scene in Chicago, as Collins describes it. A Sun-Times columnist, Michael Sneed, reported in 2006 that Michelle's mink coat was missing from a birthday bash for Jesse Jackson. Don't tell PETA about that one.

The author covers a trip to South Carolina. "Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we're a divided country, we're a country that is "just downright mean," we are "guided by fear," we're a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. "We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day," she said, as heads bobed in the pews. "Folks are just jammed up, and it's gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I'm young. Forty-four!"

"Let me tell you, don't get sick in America".

"If Michelle Obama's husband succeeds in garnering the Democratic nomination and then in winning the general election in November, she will be not only the first black First Lady of the United States but also one of the youngest since Jackie Kennedy." True. Jackie Kennedy, however, didn't succumb to the America is bad theme of the guilty liberal crowd.

The author goes into the church affiliation of the Obamas in Chicago, a church with the doctrine of black supremecy.

There is a bit of referencing of milder personalities as First Ladies, a veiled reference to Laura Bush. It is as though Laura Bush is not strong-willed, not accomplished. The usual pap. I suppose working in inner city schools in Houston Texas is not on the level of working with inner city girls on the south side of Chicago. Don't question such arrogance. Just feel. Change.

"There is a hectoring, buy-one-while-supplies-last quality of Obama's frequent admonitions that Americans will have only one chance to elect her husband President. Someone who has spent a good portion of her life gaining purchase has suddenly been asked to sell something, and she seems to find it slightly beneath her."

And, finally, from the author, en route with Michelle to Green Bay, Wisconsin:"Back in the Explorer, I asked Obama if she thought that her husband, as the Democratic nominee, could take John McCain. "Oh, yeah. We got him," she replied. Got him? Gotcha? Change?

Careful what you wish for.