Thursday, June 12, 2008

Michelle, My Belle: These Are Words That Go Together Just A Bit Too Fucking Well

"It’s telling that Michelle Obama claims humble roots that weren’t so humble, claims to understand the “plight” of the lower-class black family without having actually lived that life, and then had to study her own race, as if she wouldn’t have understood it otherwise. It’s telling that this woman once wrote that blacks who didn’t adhere to racial separatism would lack the compassion to understand the “plight” of the lower-income black family, and then turned around and married a half-white man whom, she now proclaims in stump speeches, is fully capable of understanding that “plight.” It speaks volumes that when Michelle Obama refers to her husband’s base of support she does not mention voters, she does not mention Democrats; she mentions races: black, white, brown (whatever that is). It’s astonishing, when you think about it, that Michelle Obama is surprised that white people in Iowa would vote for her husband.

I’m not saying that Michelle Obama is a racist. No, indeed, I’m not. I’m saying that Michelle Obama thinks we’re all racists. According to Michelle Obama’s rhetoric, everyone who didn’t grow up in a lower-class black family (even though she didn’t), everyone who favors racial integration (which her husband claims to favor), and everyone who ponders whether yet another Ivy-league educated millionaire (as both she and her husband are) — who happens to be black — can understand what life is like living paycheck-to-paycheck are all racists.


If there’s “something big, something new” happening in America, it’s this: we are on the brink of an historic election in more ways than one. It’s not merely the first time we’ve had a black candidate with a strong chance of becoming president. It’s not that we might have the first-ever black First Lady.

It’s that we, as voters wholly aware of America’s past racial problems, are now being called to vote for Barack Obama because he is black in order to absolve ourselves. But Michelle Obama doesn’t want to be thought of as an “angry black woman” for such manipulations, and according to Barack his wife — whom he sends out on stump speeches to talk about how surprising it is that white people in Iowa would vote for him — isn’t fair game. Really?

That makes me angry — so I guess I must be an “angry white woman” who’s just a bit bitter as well. But apparently, that’s typical for my race.

Michelle Obama a racist? No, I wouldn’t call her that. I can think of far too many other appellations that would suit her just fine."


-- Katherine Berry, throwing one hell of a roundhouse at Michelle Obama's well-coiffed head, for Pajama's Media

And, of course, women who fight well are supported by:

2 comments:

  1. Hmmmmm.

    1. I'm rather suspect of Michelle Obama. I have a feeling that one major reason why Barack Obama argued so strongly that Michelle was off limits is because of her tendency to jam her foot in her mouth.

    2. Personally I think Americans of similar economic levels have much more in common with each other than via skin color.

    Wealthy, well educated people are very much the same all the world over. They drive expensive cars, live in expensive homes and dine at expensive, and posh, restaurants that serve absurdly small portions.

    This explains why Michelle Obama had to treat black life as if it were an essay.

    3. Frankly I'm opposed to race based apportionment of either college entrances or jobs. But I am in favor of some apportionment based on economics. Giving hard working people, regardless of color, an opportunity for advancement in education and job opportunities is the right thing.

    And an effective way of gradually reducing poverty as more and more people see that there is in fact a way out through hard work and merit.

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  2. Oh my god, there's so much worthwhile information here!

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