Filed under: News
And support it she did. Many of you who joined the Obama bandwagon AFTER the Iowa caucuses may have forgotten, but back in the days of 2007, then Senator Barack Obama was not the most beloved figure of all of Black America. Let's get real. Many black folks viewed him with outright suspicion. There were even articles wondering if Barack Obama was "black enough." Does anybody remember 'Barack the Magic Negro'? That meme was originally started by a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, whose mother is half African American.
Back then, Senator Obama was running against two tag teams, Hillary and Bill along with Elizabeth and John. In addition Senator Obama had a problem that he continues to suffer from to this day -- he had no charismatic surrogates. It was just him. The black political caste system was either sitting on the sidelines or openly in favor of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Michelle Obama didn't really have a choice in the matter regarding whether to step up and fulfill that role. Her husband was battling two political couples and suspicion from us black folks. She had to step out there and step out there she did.
Back in the summer of 2007, it was Michelle Obama at the Iowa caucuses who made the most coherent and passionate argument for why she was making the sacrifice of allowing her husband to run for president of the United States. It was one of her best speeches ever, before she got bum-rushed by vitriol and hateration and the Obama campaign panicked and shuffled her off to an undisclosed location for months. Back then in that Iowa gymnasium, Michelle Obama conceded that she had reservations about the impact his candidacy would have on her family, but the problems we faced as a nation were so big, she was willing to make the sacrifice and she wasn't afraid. 'Be Not Afraid' still holds up three years later as her best speech of all time.
All Michelle Obama smears are rooted in stereotypes about black women. Stereotypes many of us have encountered in the work place. The most persistent strain is that Michelle Obama is angry, entitled and ungrateful for the magnificent blessing of the bounties and fruits of this exceedingly perfect nation. Last week, when I saw a tweet from Sandra Rose indicating that there was some new "bombshell" related to Michelle Obama, as the founder of a blog called Michelle Obama Watch, I was compelled to read.
According to reports from a British newspapers, ( always a red flag to me) Michelle Obama purportedly went up to a complete stranger, the wife of the French head of state none the less, and announced not halfway into her husband's presidential term that she "hated" the job of being First Lady of the United States. This was the bombshell? That Michelle Obama hated her job and thought it was "hell"? Really? I was expecting something more salacious than job dissatisfaction. I instantly rolled my eyes and thought "nonsense!" This smear is almost identical to almost a half a dozen smears that only a non-black person could have come up with.
Remember the Whitey-tape rumor during the primaries? Someone floated the ridiculous notion that Michelle Obama, a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer was video taped shouting from a pulpit saying something to the effect of hating "Whitey." Really? Professional black folks who rack up massive student loan debt routinely take to random pulpits to do imitations of George Jefferson? On videotape?
Or what about Lobster-gate? You know the story that the New York Post chose to run with about Michelle Obama purportedly engaging in the outrageous act of purchasing lobster and running up a $400 room service bill. Really? Because a Harvard-educated lawyer would naturally always order a crustacean that tends to leave seafood smelling muck all over the place right before making a major public appearance. I guess there was no caviar on the menu.
All of these "rumors" were pure works of fiction. The NY Post had to issue a swift retraction about lobster gate -- she wasn't even at the hotel in question on the day of the purported lobster ordering. No need to fact-check when you can rely on stereotypes instead.The media doesn't care if these Michelle Obama stories are true, they just want them to be true.
Which brings us to our latest smear which I have no doubt is completely false. This latest, like all the other smears, tells us more about US than it does about Michelle Obama.
To believe these smears you have to believe the following:
- Michelle Obama is indiscrete -- To believe that Michelle Obama went up to Carla Bruni and offered up the opinion that the job of being FLOTUS is hell, you'd have to believe that Michelle Obama didn't know how to keep her own counsel.
- Michelle Obama is stupid -- To believe this story you'd have to believe that Michelle Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was none too bright.
- Michelle Obama is perpetually pissed off -- You would also have to believe that Michelle Obama was somehow angry that her husband was the most powerful man in the free world after she worked her heart out to get him in that position.
- Michelle Obama is classless -- Can anyone really believe that Michelle Obama doesn't know how to comport herself on the world stage despite you know... graduating from not one, but TWO Ivy League schools and working at a big law firm AND navigating the treacherous nature of Chicago politics? She can't handle a polite meet and greet with Mick jagger's ex-girlfriend without making a massive faux pas? Please.
In other words, to even entertain this latest nonsense and chicanery about First Lady Michelle Obama, you would have to be an unmitigated FOOL!
If Michelle Obama DID hate her job, which I don't think she does, she has good reason to. After all, she took a demotion to take this job. If you recall, she was the primary breadwinner in that family and was a hospital executive before she was Mom-in-Chief. She had to move her kids to take this job. She had to place her ambitions and dreams and goals on hold for this job. She works hard at the job of being FLOTUS, holding over 300 events in her first year alone and oh yes:
She doesn't get paid and she has to do customer service like respond to unsubstantiated rumors that anyone with half a gnats brain wouldn't repeat!
My response to this and every other smear is, not only is it not true, but so what if it was true! Michelle Obama, like millions of Americans, is entitled to hate her ding dang job. Show me the hand of someone who didn't have a job at some point that they hated and I'll show you a person that ain't ever had a J-O-B.
Hating your job is as American as thinking lobster is the epitome of a luxurious meal. Hating your job is like a Snuggie... everybody has one ( or has considered purchasing one), but hates to admit it. Hating your job is like food poisoning: its unpleasant but natural and eventually everyone will experience the sensation. I don't see anything wrong with hating your job. Hating your job doesn't make you a bad person. It may make you a miserable person, but its no reflection on your personal character -- other than lacking the wherewithal to move on to a new job you hate less.
Buckle in folks, I thought we'd have until at least February of 2011 before we entered presidential campaign silly season, but I think we can mark this latest ridiculousness as the official start.
If you need assistance in detecting Michelle Obama Vitriology, I offer some guidance on how to examine FLOTUS rumors over at Michelle Obama Watch.