“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."
Michelle Obama turned 44 last month, which meant she turned 18 in 1982, becoming a legal adult. Did she find nothing at all to be proud of about her country until her husband became the Democratic front-runner for president? Was our history nothing but a catalogue of shame until then? Has American history from 1982 until the present moment been nothing but disgrace and misery for this well-off Ivy League graduate?
Suddenly I'm wondering if the Obamas are, underneath it all, the kind of educated left-wing miserabilists who really do despise their country. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, we'll be seeing this quote again, for sure.
UPDATE: OK, "hated" is too strong a word, but still, the basic point stands. JPod is thinking like I'm thinking, and suggests that even if this line was forgivable campaign hyperbole, it does suggest a certain vanity about the Obamas, who are in danger of believing their own press.
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Eric W. is absolutely correct:
The "really" is being spliced out of Michelle Obama's comment on talk radio to place her in a far worse light. I heard it myself this afternoon on 101.5 FM in New Jersey (the station that gave the world Craig Carton, aka Imus-lite, among its other dubious "achievements").
Disgusting. But hardly unexpected.
Assuming that most commentors here at least lean to the right, I am very encouraged to see criticism for the likes of O'Reilly. I hope it's a trend that continues. At the very least, it is commendable that such things can be said here without being flamed into oblivion.
I've noticed the "really" being in and out. Can anyone say for sure which version is the correct one? Someone is delibrately misquoting and is thoroughly dispicable. I'm amazed anyone could get away with it and amazed that it isn't getting any traction in the media.
So why are 'some people' so concerned over Michelle Obama's revelation? What do you, cruncy con, know about her? Whatever she achieved was through hard work and dedication, it wasn't handed to her, and as a member of a very visible minority, I'm sure, she'd to, constantly, double qualify. I know this, boy do I know it, I wasn't born in the U.S. and I can identify with minorities.
This is something that you white people born here don't understand or can't understand because it's not your experience and will never be!
One thing I know about Mrs. Obama is that she has a conscience, unlike so many women in politics or married to a politico. She left a high paying job at a law firm (a job she got thanks ONLY to her qualifications and good scores in law school) to do something where she could make a difference. She knows first hand what happens to those that unlike her, didn't have the brains or the support of her family to achieve through great odds.
It's really petty that grown people are going around 'shocking themselves' into rank silliness over her being proud for the first time in her adult life.
For the first time in her life she sees people coming together in spite of their differences, can you get this and understand it without going around in 'shock'? I doubt it very much.
What you are wondering, con, maybe should be left inside your 'wonderings' file until you can get more information or until you develop a much needed understanding of what other people go through regardless of their actual success.
I'm a caucasian woman who looks just like "americans" until I open my mouth and my slight accent is noticed. This immediately changes the dynamics around me. In a way it's a blessing because I get the instant realization of who is genuine or not a bigot and who isn't.
You, Mr. cruncy con, should be wondering about the remarks of racists like Bill O'Reilly, don't you think?
The fact you don't tells me that at one level, perhaps an unconscious level, you agree with his remarks. I see you have saved all your fire for Michelle Obama while leaving O'Reilly out of the equation.
I stumbled upon this site, while looking for something else, I'm glad that I was able to leave my grain of sand, or salt for you, but I'll never come back. I'm truly disgusted with people who use little things in order to vilify others and to do it in a 'safe' manner because to spell it out would earn you some very unsavory labels.
"I doubt the Obamas hate America the way, say, Michael Moore hates America. On the other hand, I don't think they really love it either, or at least not the same things I love about it. As left-liberals, they can't like much about America's past or traditions. Maybe they love a certain image of America, one that includes socialized medicine, racial harmony, peace on earth, and all the other things they think they can give us; but I don't think they have much use for the America I live in."
Well, Mr. Baugher, I don't know what you love about America, and, unlike you, I'm not willing to proceed on ignorant presumptions. (Sorry, I'm using the word "ignorant" in the pure sense of "lacking in knowledge," not in the Southern sense of "uncouth.") My image of America does not include either socialized medicine or racial harmony, though, as one who loves my country, I believe it would be better off with both. Reasonable people can differ about socialized medicine, but what do you have against racial harmony?
How dare you presume to know whether or why I love my country? Or which of its traditions especially matters to me? (How about free speech, and the fact that we can have this conversation at all with nobody getting arrested? How about the fact that our laws not only protect me, as a Jew, from discrimination by the Christian majority, but also require that I be INCLUDED in the majority for political purposes? How about the fact that, over the centuries, our country has become aware of the humanness of immigrants, women, and current and former slaves and their descendants, and people of color, and has tried, with varying degrees of success, to include us all in the majority?)
As long as Mr. Dreher graciously invites us all to take part in this discourse, we owe each other a lot more civility than I am seeing on this blog lately. Can we clean it up, please?
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