DISQUS

MichaelSmith · 1 year ago

Captain, you say Obama has "focused on positive themes of hope and change". When are Republicans and conservatives going to start pointing out that:

1) Proposing an expansion of the welfare state does not constitute CHANGE -- it constitutes a continuation of the trend. It's "more of the same" -- it‘s a commitment to stay on the same path, not change directions.

And:

2) Promising to expand the welfare state may offer HOPE to the recipients of welfare benefits -- but it offers only DISCOURAGEMENT to the taxpayers that are sentenced to a lifetime of high taxation and wealth-ravaging inflation required to pay for Obama's promises.

Obama’s campaign tells the nation’s most productive, most innovative, most creative and most ambitious individuals that they are forever tied to the “needs” of the irrational, the lazy, the deadbeat, the misfortunate, the foolish, the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the good-for-nothings -- tied for life by taxation and inflation that will take whatever portion of their earnings is required to fulfill the vote-buying promises of the Obama’s of the world.

When are Republican politicians going to point out that what Obama proposes to expand -- the welfare state -- is an utter failure?.

For instance, in the twenty years PRIOR to the launch of the "war on poverty", the number of people living under the poverty line DROPPED steadily from about 44 million to 24 million; then, however, the "war on poverty" was launched and trillions of dollars -- trillions! -- have been spent on anti-poverty programs over the last 30+ years -- but the number living in poverty STOPPED falling and instead has RISEN from 24 million to 36 million.

Another example: Medicare and Medicaid were NOT launched because the elderly and the poor did not have access to healthcare -- no one made that claim because it simply wasn’t true; rather, it was argued that healthcare was so expensive that some elderly and poor had to depend on charity, which was deemed to be “beneath their dignity”. Medicare and Medicaid, we were promised, would “make healthcare affordable for everyone”. Well, these programs have not made healthcare affordable -- they’ve driven up the cost of healthcare for everyone. And the fact remains that if you are depending on the taxpayers to pay your doctor bills, you are STILL depending on charity, even if its forced charity and even if the system lets you pretend it is something else.

And one more example: Social Security has NOT “guaranteed every working man a decent retirement” as was originally promised. Virtually no one can retire solely on Social Security today, even if you’ve spent a lifetime paying taxes into the system. And as the population of the elderly grows, the system promises only higher taxes and still-lower benefits in the future.

It is only a matter of time before the welfare state bankrupts America. When are we going to get a Republican politician willing to point out these truths -- instead of compromising with the Democrats on plans for more of these failed programs?

StuCon · 1 year ago

Gosh Michelle!! I can only imagine what you and Barry could have accomplished if you hadn't grown up in America in the last half of the 20th century. I just don't know how you and Barry have managed to maintain your dignity what with having to deal with Ivy League educations 6 and 7 figure incomes, mansion in the burbs, shady real estate deals....if only you and Barry had grown up in say...Afghanistan or Kosovo or Somalia or Iran or anywhere but here then we wouldn't be subjected to your typically liberal, no different than the palaver the Rev Al spoon feeds the massed, same old, same old, same old, America sucks now and always did!
Some change

John · 1 year ago

Obama has been very smart during the campaign not to play the race card (even if Bill Clinton says he does), and to keep the focus of his campaign on a theme of inclusive optimism and renewal, even if that means he's been short on specifics.

Michelle on the other hand, needs to be reigned in by her husband and his campaign handlers, because you can tell by her current remarks, that, were things to suddenly go wrong for Obama today in Wisconsin or on March 4 in Texas or Ohio, Michelle would be likely not only to play the race card, but to throw the whole deck at America for suddenly having last-second buyer's remorse about her husband. That may be the only way Hillary has a chance to rally and win the nomination, if Michele does to her husband what Bill Clinton tried to do with his Jesse Jackson remark after the South Carolina vote -- turn Barak into the black candidate and marginalize his appeal to the point that the superdelegates go Hillary's way because they think Obama now can't win over independents against McCain in the fall.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"needs to be reigned in by her husband and his campaign handlers"

I disagree. Let her speak. Let America hear what she has to say.

Along with Obama's MoveOn.org supporters, Daily Kos supporters and all of the other lunatic leftists.

Let them all "educate" us all on how we are an evil, racist country that needs Obama and the far, far left to "redeem" us.

Keep on, "keeping it real", Michelle et al. America definitely needs to hear your message.

galynn · 1 year ago

The problem is that Michelle Obama grew up during the time when schools began to teach a deconstructed and reconstructed American Herstory that characterized the US as created by imperialist, racist, white male invaders who care nothing for the poor, down-trodden citizens of the world. I'm sure there are more adjectives that could be thrown in. It makes sense to me that she would not feel proud of a country that she's been taught to hate -- until now of course when Change(TM) and Hope(TM) are alive. What's even sadder is that what she is saying resonates so deeply with young people who know no other version of American History. And to think, this is still what is being taught in the schools, only with even more vengeance.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

The problem is, I went to school at the same time and was taught all of the same nonsense.

And I believed it, until I turned around 30. Because I started living and earning a living and traveling.

And I read history for myself.

If she is really this blind at age 44, she is likely to never learn.

You've made a good point about our education system and how poor it is. But I'm astonished that a woman in her position has not managed to overcome it.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Maybe I'm lucky I didn't go to Princeton and Harvard in retrospect.

Seems like she's decided she has nothing left to learn.

philwynk · 1 year ago

It's not all that unusual for the wife of a powerful man to boast about how powerful he is. The important question is, what's Barack Obama really made of, and what's he going to try to do?

The nation is facing real crises: migration threatens the nation, and Islam threatens the West. Obama's rhetoric does not address those, however. He's addressing a different problem: the nation is divided. It's not an imaginary problem, but he's not addressing it in a realistic manner; the problem is competing philosophical systems with vastly different moral hierarchies. High-flown rhetoric offers no promise to unite those, and Sen. Obama's voting record places him firmly on the left side of the divide; he's not the right man to solve the problem.

The man who's actually producing a realistic solution to this problem is Newt Gingrich. His American Solutions initiative is gathering local activism to focus on issues where most Americans agree. It's pretty remarkable, actually -- polls reveal super-majorities on a surprising number of issues, enough so that Gingrich says America is about 85% center-right, and only 15% hard-left. Obama falls into the 15% category. He's not going to unite a thing.

I recommend a trip over to Gingrich's site. Download his "Platform of the America People," and gear up for local activism. This is where the real uniting is taking place. Obama's a fake messiah.

(Unrelated to this topic, please visit my political blog, "Plumb Bob Blog: Squaring the Culture," at http://www.plumbbobblog.com. Thanks.)

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

We old white folk are the oppressors, and it is our turn to suffer the lash.

Nothing we have done is worthy of emulation -- because the hallmark of Change(TM) is that everything that went before is failed and must be replaced.

At least that's the impression she leaves after listening to her for a few minutes.

jr565 · 1 year ago

Yikes that sounds an awful lot like the Khmer Rouge restarting the clock at zero.

sharinlite · 1 year ago

unclesmrgol you are so right on! Everything everywhere is "WHITEY'S" fault! Everywhere on the planet it is "America's" fault...the white America, of course. Never mind that without "Whitey" there would probably be so much less in the world today. Sure, we overuse, but no where else on the planet are so many, trying so hard to get into. We may not last very much longer, but while we do, we offer as we always have, the opportunity to be better and more than you can be where you are. The West raised a couple of selfish, blind, deaf and dumb generations and it looks like we will very likely pay the piper.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

My comment was an attempt to "ape" the politics of Barack Obama. Notice I used both race and age as identifiers -- he seems to have it in for both groups with respect to what they built. Of course, three fingers point back, because he had what was for all intents and purposes a white middle class upbringing aided by people far older than he is.

If what we here in America have built (which started as a white male thing but of necessity has expanded over the years [the ideals cannot be constrained by race, creed, or national origin]) is worthy to survive, those people of whatever race or creed or national origin who inherit it will keep it. And you don't remain deliberately blind, deaf, or dumb for very long without suffering consequences. Those consequences tend to be self-correcting, if you live.

Do you know who Sadao Munemori is? or Harry Sumida? I wouldn't say that this country is built solely by Caucasians, or that our heroes are so.

As for overusing, as a capitalist society, we try to assure that at every level of industry there's a profit for the individuals doing the work, and for the individuals providing the means to do the work. I've pointed out that we are bootstrapping China -- the Chinese are selling us goods and profiting handsomely. It's part of the reason the standard of living is improving so rapidly over there. The fact that the Chinese are undercutting local places like Mexico is one of the reasons the standard of living is not improving so rapidly down there. Sooner or later a correction will occur -- as soon as the wage levels rise enough in China, we will be sending business south of the border again, and may well regain some of our own manufactoring sectors.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Selfish, overeducated millionaire woman ignorant in history, clings to the perpetual victim card and demands that racist Amerika elect her husband.

Or we can have the overeducated, millionaire woman ignorant in history and short on accomplishment, who clings to the perpetual victim card and demands that sexist Amerika elect her.

Two absolutely terrible choices the Democrats leave us with.

keemo · 1 year ago

Amen....

What's with this Liberal mantra "America is bad, America is the root cause of all evil around the globe, America is the worlds bully"...... Pretty damn sick of that "hate America" bullshit. Just what we need is a President who preaches the hate America theme. (not)

MattHelm · 1 year ago

This is why I quit the Democratic Party last year. The party whose leader once declared "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," and of whom another leading figure, Hubert H. Humphrey, once said, "It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea," has become the party of lotus eaters, spoiled children, and demagoguery.

As for me, I've long adopted Stephen Decatur's quote as my mantra: Our country...in our intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right, but right or wrong...our country.

Cue the exploding heads of leftists...

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"This is why I quit the Democratic Party last year."

Congratulations on this. I did the same thing in 1994 and it was very liberating.

Good to hear that people are still making the switch.

Bogey · 1 year ago

yeah a MASSIVE switch, the OTHER way..

courtesy of W and the GOP Congress of the last 8 years.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

You were once a Republican? Wow.

Bogey · 1 year ago

popped by Democratic cherry for the first time in a national election in 2004.

It was a protest vote. Punched the straight Democratic ticket, went home and slept very soundly that night and every night since.

we'll see what happens this year. It's interesting that the ONLY Republican (other than F. Thompson) that I'd vote for just happens to be the nominee this year.

might not vote for any GOPer in Congress until every scumbag there get out (save for a few faves like Flake, etc)

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Haven't voted for a Democrat in 16 years and nothing that's happened in the past 8 years even slightly threatened that record.

Democrats have lied to me all of my life and they haven't changed at all lately.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Congratulations on having made a difference in the world. Your vote did make a difference, didn't it?

Del_Dolemonte · 1 year ago

What year were you first eligible to vote? And which Republican did you vote for?

nightjar · 1 year ago

"in our intercourse with foreign nations "

Does that include screwing our allies?

SoldiersMom · 1 year ago

"Does that include screwing our allies?

Sure it does, if you're a democrat.

txslr · 1 year ago

A reference to South Vietnam?

nightjar · 1 year ago

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

From that well known traitor and blame America first guy , Theodore Roosevelt
Republican 1918

MattHelm · 1 year ago

But from you and yours, we've gotten nothing but baseless accusations, innuendos and half-truths regarding much of this president's actions. To be honest, there is plenty of room for criticism to be levied against this president, but criticism is one thing--lies and demagoguery something else entirely.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Did Teddy have anything to say about constantly using lies and slander to gain political advantage, as is the standard operating practice of the Democrat Party and their supporters?

nightjar · 1 year ago

One mans (or womans) dissent is another mans lie. The voters get to say who's telling the truth.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Nice defense for your unethical, post-modern "all truth is relative", morally and intellectually bankrupt Democrat Party.

MattHelm · 1 year ago

Now you know why I hate postmodernism with its "personal truth." Give me good old objective truth any day. I'd better shut up now before I go on another Foucault/Deridda/post-modern diatribe. Did I say how much I hate postmodernism?

UncleAl · 1 year ago

I think most people with working brains who have had to learn what postmodernism is hate it. There's a blogger who used to refer to it a lot. His site is Protein Wisdom. He knows as much about postmodernism as those pinheads who espouse it, but he hates it.

nightjar · 1 year ago

LOL. Damn, you got us pegged. Being against torture and unnecessary war and for providing health insurance to kids is a sure sign moral and intellectual bankruptcy.

MichaelSmith · 1 year ago

By the way, in the interests of honesty, you should tell people that not only do you wish to provide health insurance for kids, you wish to sentence those same kids to a lifetime of high taxation, wealth-robbing inflation and reduced economic opportunities for advancement that will accompany the continued expansion of the welfare state that you embrace.

You should also acknowledge that what you propose to do with children’s health insurance consists of making one party -- the taxpayers -- pay for the consequences of another party’s -- the parents -- actions, actions over which the first party has no influence or control, actions which they did not participate in, and actions which they were not consulted about. This -- forcing one person to take responsibility for another person’s acts -- is the very definition of INJUSTICE.

nightjar · 1 year ago

So if kids have bad parents they should go without insurance to punish those bad parents.?

And about the national debt. do you really want to go there, given that your prez and repub congress have run up an elephant size debt.

randian · 1 year ago

Yes. See "moral hazard".

MichaelSmith · 1 year ago

But according to your own words, you cannot know the moral status of “being against torture and unnecessary war and for providing health insurance to kids” -- you can’t know whether those things are moral until the voters vote on it. If the voters vote against your positions, according to your notion of truth, then you and your positions are indeed morally and intellectually bankrupt.

nightjar · 1 year ago

Wow, that is breathtaking wingnut logic. The question I commented on was about "intellectual and moral bankruptcy" not truth. But in practical effect, the voters will get to vote on the issues I mentioned in Nov. Then we'll find out the political truth which is what elections are about.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"Being against torture"

Then why is Ted Kennedy still permitted to give speeches in public?

"unnecessary war"

You mean your unnecessary war against anyone who dares to disagree with Democrat Party dogma?

"for providing health insurance to kids"

. . . we haven't aborted yet. Those 45 year old kids we mean.

Yompkee · 1 year ago

Truth is relative, huh? Guess you must be a liberal.

txslr · 1 year ago

So if I say you're a pederast, that's just "my truth"? And you have no problem with that? Hmmm.

Yompkee · 1 year ago

1) The post above asks that we face foreign agents unified. Yours speaks to the dicussion we should have prior to that. Totally different things.

2) Let me know when you take his advice and speak the truth about the President. It will be a refreshing change.

3) TR was in the Bull Moose Party in 1918, not the Republican Party. This sis something called "History", which might be an important thing to learn someday for you.

Other than that, I agree.

nightjar · 1 year ago

"The Party had it's second convention in 1916, and nominated Roosevelt again. This time he refused to accept the nomination and endorsed Hughes. The national party promptly disintegrated."
Progressive Party (United States, 1912) - Wikipedia, the free ...

Hughes was the republican candidate.

"This sis something called "History", which might be an important thing to learn someday for you"

Yompkee · 1 year ago

Sinc enedorsements make people a member of a party I guess Lieberman is a Republican now.

Also, from the article you cited:

"Roosevelt's schism allowed the conservatives to gain control of the Republican party and left Roosevelt and his followers drifting in the wilderness throughout the 1920s before most joined the New Deal Democratic Party coalition of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"
Hmmm, I guess your argument now is.......?

BTW, thanks for adressing my other two points. Surrender is easy for you Libs, huh?

nightjar · 1 year ago

Your first two points were baited nonsense. And my argument is the same. Roosevelt in 1918 was not a member of the Bull Moose party. I don't know, but maybe because it no longer existed on the national level. Lieberman, I believe, calls himself an independent democrat or some such. Actual dems call him something else.

Yompkee · 1 year ago

I point out you are using a quote that has nothing to do with what you were arguing, and you call it baited nonsense. Must be nice to be so obvliious to truth that you can just ignore it. At least it's relative, right, at least in your world?

Your argument was that Roosevelt was a Republican in 1918. He was not, evidenced by the same article you cite in your rebuttal. Hope that didn't leave a mark.

Tell you what. I'll admit to being wrong to thinking Roosevelt was still in the Bull Moose Party in 1918 if you admit that everything else you wrote was wrong, as I think this acurately refelcts our discussion. Agreed?

nightjar · 1 year ago

LOL That's some offer there yompkee. I think I'll pass. I would never disagree with my hero Teddy Roosevelt.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"Just what we need is a President who preaches the hate America theme."

I don't think we as a country deserve Michelle and Obama. They're too darned good for us.

So how about Ms. Change and Mr. Hope, take the first flight overseas and go help some people who really do deserve them.

We'll try to forge on without them. I'm tearing up now.

keemo · 1 year ago

I think I'm going to faint....

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

I need some smelling salts myself . . .

It's either because of the promise of Obama or it's because of those Dos X's I drank along with the fajitas I downed last night.

Not sure which.

shika_one · 1 year ago

Selfish, overeducated millionaire woman ignorant in history, clings to the perpetual victim card and demands that racist Amerika elect her husband.

She said that? Wow. Such a reading into her words. Methinks the Twilight Zone is for you.

I work on the Obama Campaign here in Georgia. And I DO think it was a poor choice of words. We were discussing that this morning and thinks Senator Obama should bring Michelle "back into the fold" for a while.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Well, I've been in the military for about 20 years, have been all over the world and have not had half of the privileges and free passes this woman's received over the years. Not to mention one 1/20th of the income. But I've learned history and I understand current events. She does not.

I'm intensely proud of my country. Which is why I'm not a Democrat. How often do Democrats make little "slips" like this when they reveal what they really think?

I know exactly what she meant when she said these words and so did she. And now so do millions of Americans. She can't spin this and I don't think she's even interested in backpedaling.

This is how she really feels. We should know that we might have a first lady who doesn't really care for her own country. Keep speaking truth to the electorate, Michelle, let it all out.

Squid_Shark · 1 year ago

Donkey, where you stationed? I know you are a Navy man like myself.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

I don't want to get too specific but I'm in the Bethesda area now. Used to be at BUMED.

gaptooth · 1 year ago

"Bring her back into the fold"? Usually a pres or candidate has a problem family member...Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Clinton all had drunken brothers they had to keep out of the public eye. None of these people wouldhave been allowed near a public forum to say what Mrs. Obama has. True feelings? Probably. "Back into the fold"? Not on your life. Let her profess her true convistions so we can all make an informed decision. She won't be pres you say? PILLOW TALK!!!

SoldiersMom · 1 year ago

Well, it could have been worse. She could have said "Mawcaca"! That would have derailed Obama for sure. All she did say was that she's never been proud to be American. This is how all leftist feel. They'll get a pass.

Bennett · 1 year ago

She's only slightly pretentious and pompous.

She's felt so alone, the only one who wanted to feel hope and didn't. And now she's proud because she's not alone anymore. But she was the first, the first one not to feel hope and desperate to have others wanting to feel hope. And now others are following her lead, feeling hope. Rallying around hope. And feeling proud of that, not proud of the country because it's actually accomplished anything. Just feeling hope, that's all. And apparently that's enough. To make her proud of a country that she wants her hubby to preside over. A country that has done absolutely nothing to make her proud until Barack started winning some primaries.

The entire Obama campaign is starting to look like a parody. You have to think they're not really this humorless, this devoid of any self-awareness. She has to know how completely narcissistic this sounds. But then I guess not,

quickjustice · 1 year ago

Look! It's Barack! I think I'll just faint!

jr565 · 1 year ago

My soul, which was previously broken feels like its beginning to mend!Just from hearing Obama speak, I feel like for the first time in my life I have pride in this country.

/sarc

He should change his book title to "The Audacity of Hype"

Nugai · 1 year ago

Just for the record, Carol Mosley-Braun was elected to the Senate in 1992. She was defeated in 1998, which I suppose is reason for some pride; it showed that Illinois voters have some sense.

quickjustice · 1 year ago

It matters that the Obamas are members of a black separatist church that explicitly rejects "middle class values". But I repeat myself.

L217 · 1 year ago

The Obamas are not members of a black separatist church. They belong to Trinity United Church of Christ. The church is mostly black because it happens to be located on the South Side of Chicago, which is predominantly African American. I attend a mostly white church in the same denomination on the North (mostly white) Side. That doesn't make me a white separatist. And where do you get the idea that Congregationalists reject "middle class values"? That's just silly.

TomHolmes · 1 year ago

This isn't the kind of one-liners you need to have out there when you're up against a man of McCain's patriot credentials. That will leave a mark.

Squid_Shark · 1 year ago

Mac is going to have a field day with that one. I think McCain is going to be watching Obamas talent to teflon Clintons attacks and hopefully lean how to make it stick, this might be it.

hunter_123 · 1 year ago

Let her keep running hard down this short path.
Perhaps she can consult with Thereza more on communications.
But we should be very careful. We will only get a small number of opportunities before she pulls the race card.

Scott Wiggins · 1 year ago

Is there a common thead between husband and wife? The candidate for President who is coy about wearing flag pins "doesn't like what that pin has come to represent" and the wife who is really proud of her country for the first time. Hmmmh...Why don't they like us???

sharinlite · 1 year ago

From the first moment I heard Mrs. Obama speak, I immediately understood where she was coming from. She is of the generation that got pounded with "victimization" and "valueless" by her own but ascribed to "whitey". She is the scary of the two. Obama is not "black" ilike Michelle is and he can never be. The church they belong to and its beliefs are also very, very scary for people will do so much more harm in the "name" of religion than anything else. Mrs. Obama remind me very much of Hillary Clinton, but so much more "out front" than Hillary ever was. Hillary understood then and now that if she were to truly "speak" her mind, no one would ever vote for her. Michelle hasn't learned that yet.

Bogey · 1 year ago

she may have been pounded with "victimization". I'm not sure by how much and how much it affected her. Seems given her family history, I'd say maybe not as much as you think.

but she also had her own experienced at Princeton which seem to have shaped her tremendously.

Why don't you read up on them before making such pronouncements.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Her experience consists of worrying that she was selling out -- becoming an oreo, as it were. Those whities must have been too nice to her -- she crossed over to the Light Side.

She ought to have been worried -- she managed her first set of layoffs, after joining the board, with considerable aplomb.

Bogey · 1 year ago

no, that's not what all the articles written about her Princeton experience suggest at all.

it's where she says she learned that her "blackness", no matter what she did, was how people classified her and treated her as, first and foremost.. and usually that didn't carry positive implications.

I'm sure this angered her. And rightfully so.

before carrying on with your farcical claptrap, keep in min what she said when earlier on they were accused of being "not black enough".

her answer was equally tart to those people.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"no, that's not what all the articles written about her Princeton experience suggest at all.

it's where she says she learned that her "blackness", no matter what she did, was how people classified her and treated her as, first and foremost.."

Since she was at Princeton because of her "blackness" and she knew it, perhaps she was projecting her own insecurities on other people.

She got into Princeton and Harvard because of her skin color and her sex. Period. Of course she's guilty over it.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Didn't you read her graduation monograph? Oh, excuse me, she's embargoed it until after the election. But we do have this from the Washington Post (via CBS News)...

"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before," she wrote in the introduction to her sociology thesis, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really didn't belong."
Yet she began to think her time at the university had instilled "certain conservative values." By senior year, she saw herself "striving for many of the same goals as my White classmates -- acceptance to a prestigious graduate or professional school or a high-paying position in a successful corporation."

Apparently, her feelings of blackness got overwhelmed by something at some point. How prescient of her to realize where she was going and what she was going to do....

As NoDonkey pointed out, her own insecurities are reflected in this monograph, not necessarily any acts by her peers or professors. And again, her later history bears out the validity of her concern for her own potential loss of "soul".

Bogey · 1 year ago

mrs obama is the one with the "black conscience".

that's because she has actually lived thru more discrimination than Barack has (it seems to me, though I don't fully know).

and she is by her own admission, a loudmouth. An aggressive woman who won't sit quietly when she feels something needs to be said.

for this she should be admired - and it's good Barack isn't like her - but it IS good that she exists as his spouse as a voice of his and her conscience.

it SHOULD be expressed and should be heard.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

You mean that if Michelle were to divorce Barack, he would no longer have a conscience? That's good to know.

Bogey · 1 year ago

I doubt that, but I think she's a good yin to his yang.

Feel free to twist things however they please you though.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Thank you for your permission. Two can troll, right?

Bogey · 1 year ago

btw.. you might want to recheck that "average person living better than most people in European cities"
.
unless you're referring to Ukrainian cities. or Serbian ones.

in Western Europe, the average person has free health care, free schooling (at much superior levels than here, we are so dumb compared to Europeans thru high school it is SCARY)
a generous social safety net.

and about 5 weeks a year of VACATION.

they're generally much happier than most people here caught up in the rat race, trying to keep up with the Joneses.

check any statistic you want to check, before making assinine statements like that one.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

We know about the dumbness. We see it on this blog every day from the likes of you.

Bogey · 1 year ago

I think you're the perfect example of that fine American education that we refer to.

when I came to this country I was about 3 years ahead of everyone else in math.

And that was at a top notch private school.

had I come several years later, the gap would have easily been 5, and the gaps in science and foreign languages, much less stuff like geography would have been "astronomical".

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Ah, a Brain!

Brain, meet your Pinkie. Careful not to gouge your nose too much with your uplifted superiorly educated finger....

When the idle poor
Become the idle rich
You'll never know just who is who
Or who is which
Won’t it be rich
When everyone's poor relative
Becomes a Rockefellertive
And palms no longer itch!
What a switch!
When we all have ermine
And plastic teeth
How will we determine
Who’s who underneath?
And when all your neighbors
Are upper class
You won’t know your Joneses
From your... Astors
Let's toast the day
The day we drink that drinkie up
But with the little pinkie up
The day on which
The idle poor
Become the idle rich

sharinlite · 1 year ago

You are right! However, don't plan on owing a home, having every move you make watched by the government, having to pay for Muslims' on the dole's 3-4 wives and you certainly can't go where you want in most "European" countries unless you want to lose your head. Free speech is also going by the wayside and even in England they are preparing such a massive tax increase on the "wealthy" that they are also preparing for such an outflow of people, it can hurt the country badly.

Bogey · 1 year ago

interesting that you seem so worried about having your every move watched by the govt.

Let me guess, you're a BIG supporter of the interestingly named "Patriot" act I'll bet.

letting in all the Muslims was an idiotic idea of massively stupid proportions.

They'll be paying for that foolishness for years and years to come.

Bogey · 1 year ago

in fact, I can't believe I am saying this, but I'd have to admit that the Europeans allowing all those lunatic Muslims into their countries, is insanely more stupid and will cost them even more..

than our brilliant invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Nozzle · 1 year ago

So, I take it you have first hand experience in Europe...I have a girlfriend who recently moved back to Italy. She ordered internet service for her apartment a month ago. She's still waiting...But, that's Italian...I lived in Germany in 2003. Their unemployment rate was about 11% while ours was about 6%. As well, Germany and France exceeded EU deficit spending limits at the time. European utopia is cracking as reality sets-in. They have demographic problems that make ours look minor by comparison. Germany has a negative population growth rate. Soon, young Germans will be paying for a huge retirement population...I met many unhappy Germans during that time...But, you seem to have information that I missed while living there for a year and a half.

Bogey · 1 year ago

I have several friends living in Europe as expats that you couldn't drag back here in a straitjacket.

the demographic problems are a seperate issue.
but a big chunk of the American growth rate is coming from Hispanics and non whites period.

Which should make all the "real conservatives" very happy..

sure there are some bureaucratic inefficiencies that will drive you crazy. But you'll never be bankrupted by medical expenses.

you work less, you play more.

it's all about tradeoffs.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"I have several friends living in Europe as expats that you couldn't drag back here in a straitjacket."

I'm met european ex-pats who live here in DC who feel the same about Europe. So what?

Go anywhere in Europe or the Middle East and you'll find ex-pats from all over Europe. My favorite bartender in Bahrain was English. When we left we gave him a big ol' bottle of Jack Daniels.

I love Europe personally. Have been all over it and would like to live there myself.

But they are living on the past and barely on the current. Demographically (age and immigrant wise), they are in dire straits. It is going to kill them economically because they are going to have to support the aged and their native born populations are going to be swamped by the demanding, unemployable immigrants they're bringing in.

Europe is a theme park. Without tourism, they'd be in serious trouble. Hopefully, the Muslims allow a few of the native born to run the Eiffel Tower when they take over.

Del_Dolemonte · 1 year ago

"Europe is a theme park. Without tourism, they'd be in serious trouble. "

Why is that? Liberal social policies.

For an example of Europe in the US, look to the site of one of today's primaries, the state where Obama was born. It's been in total Democrat control since I lived there in the mid 1960s, and is one of the most corrupt, politically, states in the US.

And look at Honolulu's far-left judicial system-their State Supreme Court makes the one in Florida that tried to give Gore the election in 2000 look like a bunch of pikers. As a result of their wacky rulings, Hawaii now has perhaps the worst "ice" epidemics on the planet.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

I was there a couple of weeks ago and a father on meth threw his son off of a highway overpass.

Anyone who thinks drugs should be legalized should take a look at what meth does to people.

And Europe? Unsustainable. The people there now are living off of what their ansestors built. They are not building anything for the future it will surprise me if Europe is even recognizable in 50 years.

I've traveled there extensibly so that I can see it before it all tragically goes away.

Bogey · 1 year ago

true, different people feel different ways.

but Europeans generally speaking live more secure, happier and more relaxed lives.

they work to live, they don't live to work.

this works against their economic development to a small extent, but who gives a shit. You work till geezerdom for the economic development and I'
ll squeeze any vacation I can get before I die.

demographics are an entirely different matter, really unrelated to the discussion.

every time I meet Europeans who have the entire damn summer off and travel the world I get extremely pissed off and jealous.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

I don't know anyone who lives to work, personally.

"Europeans generally speaking live more secure, happier and more relaxed lives."

Perhaps because they're not having any children.

Don't get me wrong, I love Europe. What pains me about it is that their current happy way of life, does not seem sustainable in the long run.

Del_Dolemonte · 1 year ago

How much do the Euorpeans pay in income taxes?

Bogey · 1 year ago

more than we do, but free health care, free education on a much superior level than ours, and they travel the world in the summertime (while taking a week or so during winter in Caribbean.

I see them all over. They're always laughing and have lots of costly euros in their pockets.
while I have little time and worthless dollars in mine.

electroglodyte · 1 year ago

"First she explicitly says that only she and Barack can diagnose the condition of our souls"

I think you may have misread this. As I read the comment, it seems to me that she is absolutely not saying (1) that only Barack (or government intervention, as you also interpreted it in that blog post) can save our souls – instead she is saying that "we", i.e. all of us, have to do this – and (2) that Barack is the only person who understands that. She says that Barack is the only person "in this" who understands that, and by "this" I presume she means the election process, i.e. the small group of actual candidates left at this point: McCain, Clinton, Obama.

Here's the quote: "We have lost the understanding that in a democracy, we have a mutual obligation to one another -- that we cannot measure the greatness of our society by the strongest and richest of us, but we have to measure our greatness by the least of these. That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. That is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation."

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"Our souls are broken in this nation."

This is one of the most inane public statements I've yet to hear.

On so many levels.

What in hell does this woman know about my "soul" or anyone else's "soul"?

And what does she know about fixing "souls"? What qualifies her to know what to do to fix "souls".

Finally, what in the world is she talking about? We've spent trillions "helping" the "least of these" and it only seems to make them worse off. In fact, it seems that the more government attention is turned to a population, the sicker they get. The worst position an American can be in, is to be an American Democrats "care" about and vow to "help".

Has she learned nothing of our history at all?

Harvard and Princeton and this second rate grade school nonsense is all that she can come up with?

terrye · 1 year ago

I am not going to read over 100 comments, I just want to repeat, these people are creeping me out. Really, they are.

quickjustice · 1 year ago

Ward Connerly said that he had made a financial contribution to Obama, not because of his politics, but because his political success means the end of racism in America.

Connerly also said that in the general election, he'll vote for, and support, the most conservative candidate.

Del_Dolemonte · 1 year ago

Does this mean Michelle wasn't proud of America in the 8 years between 1993 and 2001? Very interesting...

Ben Boychuk III · 1 year ago

How long, I wonder, before the Obamas decide -- like Jimmy Carter before them -- that the problem with America is Americans?

Sadie Burns · 1 year ago

Actually, Michelle Obama didn't say "really proud" when she spoke that morning. She said "proud." In the afternoon, when she spoke again, she changed her words to "really proud." This, in & of itself, could be overlooked, but when you look at how often Obama doesn't hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthem, his refusal to wear an American flag pin on his lapel, his church's creed claiming Africa & nowhere mentioning America, then what emerges to me is someone who doesn't love America. What is particularly disturbing to me is that Obama states that his church minister is his mentor & very close friend, yet his minister & church gave an award with a special ceremony hailing Louis Farrakhan as a great man, making a video hailing him & referring to the "great Mohammed." If my church celebrated a militant Muslin who calls people of another race evil devils, hates Jews, etc., I would find another church. It amazes me that Mel Gibson, an actor not seeking the presidency, was so chastized for his anti-semitic remarks, yet Obama is an active member of a church for 20 years who praises Farrakhan as a great man and he's seeking presidency. Please everyone, spread the word.

BurfordHolly · 1 year ago

Capt' I'm glad to see you are using the qorrect quote where shes says she's "really proud."

Now there are edited videos where the sound on the word "really" is blanked out.

Yep, the clips are being doctored. This may be the "really" important story.

I would not be surprised if it's some of Ron Paul's Stormfront fans.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

"Proud" and "Really Proud" are pretty much the same things, so I wouldn't go wetting your pants over her pathetic attempt to backpedal here, while the millionaire downtrodden "keep it real".

gary fouse · 1 year ago

A few days ago, I wrote a post on Michelle Obama and her remarks made in a speech at UCLA. I commented that her remarks about her country and the American people were negative in tone. I also pointed out a few of her statements which I felt were appropriate for criticism. What was not in that article was Michelle Obama's comment a few days ago in front of a Wisconsin audience, a comment that has caused even more criticism.

In this speech, Obama told her audience that it is only now-for the first time in her adult life-that she has felt proud of her country (adding that it is not just because her husband "has done well", but that she sees a "hunger for change" in the American people.)

Excuse me?

Already, Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Axelrod, has attempted to put a spin on this, claiming that Mrs Obama's words were not well formed and misunderstood. I'm sorry, but that doesn't wash. The words were very clear. Michelle Obama attended Princeton and the Harvard Law School. She is a professional woman in her 40s. Articulation is not one of the lady's weaknesses. When you add this comment with the comments made at UCLA, as well as previous negative comments about life in America, then a question arises in the public's eye as to her attitude toward her country.

Cindy McCain's reaction was simple and to the point; she stated publicly today that she has always been proud to be an American.

Many people who know Mrs Obama are jumping to her defense and insisting that she is, indeed, a patriotic American. That may be so, but I think it is incumbant for Mrs Obama to come out publicly and clarify her remarks. It is not in the Obamas' interest to let this question linger or grow. Michelle Obama is two steps away from the White House as our First Lady. If her pride in her country is open to question, I don't think she and Barack are going to make it.

gary fouse
fousesquawk

SuperO · 1 year ago

HHere's the video that captures the original speech where she said "I'm proud", then later on added a spin of "I'm really proud" to make it sounds nicer.

Cat's out of the bag :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGjR81pFJI4

PhDiva · 1 year ago

Cindy McCain is former drug addict and thief who stole drugs from her own charity. She also pursued a relationship with McCain while he was still married to his first wife. Why don't we see blog entry about that? This whole blog is a cheap shot at the spouse of a candidate. White conservatives are really thrilled to have an excuse to attack the potential Black first lady. They would never trash former addict Cindy McCain.

V Hanna · 1 year ago

About a weeks ago I blogged CNN when they were placing Michelle Obama on some kind of a pedestal. After watching her speak in the Oprah (concert???) with the Kennedy's I came away feeling that she made americans feel down-trodden by bringing us down to a point where only Barrack Obama (the messiah) could bring us to a point of salvation. I did not care for her then and I certainly dont now. I have not gotten on the Obama movement, he did not impress me in the beginning and certainly disgusts me as this campaign goes on. I ask with despair--What has happened to our country. If a black gets in the white house then all whites in american will be led to feel less than. This is a racial campaign. Bill Clinton did not cross the line its all about race as race will be in the white house more than anyone cares to experience. When Michelle talks about despair in this nation she is talking about her race and her happiness comes because she thinks Obama can restore the wrongs against blacks for years. Thats why she is happy..............Get real America

nightjar · 1 year ago

Here is the quote in question.

"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. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it's made me proud."

A poor choice of words "for the first time" but not quite the self-absorbed remark insinuated. The use of "really proud" does not preclude her being simply proud.

sven10077 · 1 year ago

Barry Bowsmile will gain from the party of Johnny Nuance....

1)I think Obama says hope too much.

2)I REALLY think Obama says hope too much

Yeah all the difference in the world.

nightjar · 1 year ago

From the party of Johnny Flip-flop

1. I really think waterboarding is torture

2. I really think waterboarding is SWELL.

1. I really think the Bush tax cuts are bad

2. I really think the Bush tax cuts are SWELL.

Shall I continue?

Bennett · 1 year ago

He used the word swell?

No way. He's more clever than that. You? Not so much.

But at least you have hope again, right?

nightjar · 1 year ago

Do you see quotation marks? And your too clever by half! So republicans plan to attack "Hope" . This ought to be interesting.

Bennett · 1 year ago

I plan only to attack you. Even if it presents little challenge.

nightjar · 1 year ago

LOL, can I borrow one your GOP terror proof adult diapers.

sharinlite · 1 year ago

Ah, another "adult" tinfoil hatted leftist loon. I truly hope that there will never again be a 9/11, and that if and when there is, that you are close enough to "see" what you are too blind to see today but are not harmed.

nightjar · 1 year ago

Vigilance yes, unabated fear mongering no.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

I lay awake at night in fear of global warming, second hand smoke, asbestos exposure, trans fats, ATM fees, the KKK, corporations, non-union shops, charter schools and unregulated consumer goods of all kinds.

But particularly telcomm companies that can't be sued, that are monitoring my calls to Aunt Sally and filing the information away to use against me later.

Seems to me, I'm a normal Democrat is I'm afraid of all of that. But that's OK, right?

nightjar · 1 year ago

Nah, I just snuggle up with my copy of the Constitution. Sleep like a baby.

jr565 · 1 year ago

Dodge

Squid_Shark · 1 year ago

McCain still thinks waterboarding is torture, never changed that position.

nightjar · 1 year ago

Then why did he vote against it in the Feinstein bill. Oh yea, because the CIA is secret so we can't codify limits on what they do. MCcain voted against the bill because he is in full pander mode to the conservative base of the GOP. period.

sharinlite · 1 year ago

No, the Feinstein Bill is a badly written bill. And, the CIA secret? Please. The CIA is so LEFT it can't find a right side anywhere. All they can do is leak, leak and leak. And, BTW, how many of you out there talking trash have actually gone through torture of any kind? I believe that undergoing what the Viet Cong or the Islamofascist have done and do would change most people's mind, if they survive.

nightjar · 1 year ago

Once again.

"I would also hope that he would not want to be associated with a technique which was invented in the Spanish Inquisition, was used by Pol Pot in one of the great eras of genocide in history and is being used on Burmese monks as we speak," the Arizona senator said. "America is a better nation than that."
By John McCain.

runawayyyy · 1 year ago

Nice job of hijacking. I thought you didn't think terrorists existed?

nightjar · 1 year ago

Quoting = hijacking?
And try not to think so much.

Steverino · 1 year ago

I watched the news last night, and they had Ms. Obama on the screen. She said, "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country". She later said "really proud", but not at the first time she spoke.

You can spin "really proud" any way you want, it won't change what she said or meant.

Bogey · 1 year ago

this is nonsense.

read her full remarks.

and, frankly, I think she has a right to be proud of this country and WE ALL do, because for the very very first time in our history, we have a serious black presidential candidate who is carrying impressive percentages and often pluralities of the WHITE vote.

even if he ultimately loses, that's a lot to be proud of.

So, as far as I am concerned she is 100% correct on this.

Michelle Obama is a fascinating woman (and though I'm sure we'd disagree on many things, I find her very very impressive). The recent newsweek article on her should be a must read. Seems like her Princeton experience, where she felt she was viewed as "one of the token Negroes" has really shaped her experience and perceptions in many ways)

(funny thing is she WAS an "affirmative action" admission at Princeton, she always had problems with tests and didn't test well, but clearly she overcame that with super distinction (unlike W, who was also an affirmative action, but LEGACY admission, and he lived up to his qualifications)

txslr · 1 year ago

Thanks for the warning! You have provided a first-class example of nonsense. I'm not sure why you bothered, though.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Down, Bogey, down!

She got those nifty board positions because of Barack's political connections, not any innate intelligence on her part.

I'll give her the University of Chicago hospital position, but that's about it.

And, since you admit she was an affirmative action admission (a "token" if you will), one wonders what better qualified person got passed over for her -- someone whose life was damaged by Michelle's getting pulled out and sent to the front of the line? And if there wasn't a better qualified person passed over for her, she wasn't really an affirmative action admission, was she?

Bogey · 1 year ago

nifty positions?

she was on a fast and well paid career track at one of the most prestigious law firms in Chicago.

she quit.

the affirmative action question is an interesting one, and I do recognize your point. (and yes all indications and suggestions are that she indeed was an affirmative action hire, she knew it, and didn't particularly apologize for it.

the affirmative action issue is a very thorny one, one that I don't have a very good answer for.

my personal preference is against set quotas but very much in favor of trying one's best to "diversify" the environment as much as possible.

Bogey · 1 year ago

sorry, not "hire". an admission to Princeton. (it's speculated she always had problems with tests, ergo I suspect her scores on the SAT/ACT weren't all that impressive)

but she did very well there, and then went on to Harvard Law.

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

She went to Harvard Law with a sociology degree from Princeton?

How many white, upper class guys get into Harvard Law with a sociology degree?

And how hard is it to do in sociology?

Bogey · 1 year ago

you can go into Law with a degree in medieval art.
or European history for that matter.

there is not set undergrad "law" major or even courseload.

most people tend to study things like political science but effectively your undergrad degree doesn't matter.

Sociology is actually very relevant to law if you think about it (or better said complimentary)

NoDonkey · 1 year ago

Sociology is what athletes tend to major in. Because it's simple.

Seems to me, to get into one of the most prestigious law schools in the nation, one would need a little thicker stew than sociology.

But maybe Michelle was more "equal" than others. Democrat Politicians always seem to be.

Bogey · 1 year ago

take Sociology at Princeton and get back to us.

Or request an answer from the Princeton Sociology Dept.

unclesmrgol · 1 year ago

Don't need to. Some of us majored in the hard subjects, and took sociology courses because they were needed for the core.

They were sort of like twitching a finger to pass.

BurfordHolly · 1 year ago

Is JPod still demanding a war with Iran, or is he groping around for a new theme?

I will admit that I am deeply prejudiced against people that try to latch onto any random phrase to "prove" that the other person is bad. I don't like it in Hillary, I don't like in republicans. The last person I new that did this all the time viciously abused two bedridden elderly people. That's not to say that everyone that does that is a criminal, but usually someone that grew up in an extremely alcoholic family.

runawayyyy · 1 year ago

Who said she was a bad person? Do you think that every word uttered by a democrat should be ignored unless it's flattering? Don't you think we have a duty (nay, a RIGHT) to discuss what may be an obviously anti-American rant by the wife of the current democrat frontrunner???

BurfordHolly · 1 year ago

Try Al-Anon

Lup the Lup · 1 year ago

Truly ad hominem.