The First Scold
By Mitch Berg
I knew bupkes about Michelle Obama until her “Barack will save the nation’s soul” crack last winter. I figured then that she was going to be a huge liability among the part of the electorate that doesn’t feel hatred and contempt for the rest of the electorate.
Michelle Malkin writes about that exact observation:
In one of her few (unintentionally) funny moments during a recent sit-down with comedian Stephen Colbert, Mrs. Obama claimed, “Barack and I tend to look at the positives.” That’s a side-splitter. As National Review’s Yuval Levin put it, Michelle Obama is “America’s unhappiest millionaire.” And she has the audacity to extrapolate her misery and her husband’s alleged victimization to the “vast majority of Americans.”
In South Carolina, she called America “just downright mean” and bemoaned “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day.” And in case you hadn’t heard enough of her carping about how hard it is for a seven-figure-earning family to pay for ballet lessons and piano lessons and pay off college loans, Mrs. Oh-Woe-Is-Me was at it again on the campaign trail in Indiana and North Carolina before Tuesday’s primary.
On the stump, she warmed up (or rather, berated) supporters by complaining about how her husband is an underdog even after he keeps winning primary and caucus after primary and caucus. With a scowl etched on her face, she bellyached that “the bar is constantly changing for this man.” Call the waambulance, stat.
If Obama wins, look for Michelle Obama to be his analog to Billy Carter.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:23 am
You’d be bitter too if you had to struggle to pay off your student loans from you Harvard law degree.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I wonder if she consults astrologers.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Mitch,
She might more resemble a hybrid of Billy Carter and (first lady) Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Too dumb to get angry at and too shrill to laugh at.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Good question, Peter H. And at least she hasn’t actually killed any ex-boyfriends, like Laura Bush (and Hillary, if you listen to Scaifenet.)
May 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Maybe Mrs. B. Hussien Obama can take that fancy Ivy league law degree, and figure out how to turn a $10 investment in cattle futures into a $Zillion dollars.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Mitch wrote
“In South Carolina, she . . . bemoaned “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day.””
Please, can we have more GOP contempt for people trying to make ends meet during a recession. Lets have John host a series of parties at Cindy’s ranch with lots of cake for the people to eat.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Mrs. Obama looks upon “the nation” as filled with helpless, indolent victims in need of salvation (and single payer ballet and music lessons apparently) from the Church of Big Government and its savior, Barack Obama. And Reverend RickDFL has the stones to claim that the GOP has contempt for “the people”.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am
GOP contempt?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Sure Badda. Maybe we can get the DFL to raise gas and sales taxes on “people trying to make ends meet during a recession”.
Oh wait, they already did.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Well at least we can be glad the national Republicans are holding the line and ensuring the federal budget’s balanced, eh Kermite?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
And that has to do with so-called GOP contempt how?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Dunno, big guy. Ask Kermit.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Please, can we have more GOP contempt for people trying to make ends meet during a recession. Lets have John host a series of parties at Cindy’s ranch with lots of cake for the people to eat.
Quick check, here, Rick; who is the one issuing the contempt?
May 7th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
“who is the one issuing the contempt”
You, Mitch Berg. Citing this – “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day” as evidence” – as an example of “hatred and contempt” is itself an example of “hatred and contempt” for hard working Americans.
I urge the GOP to build its election message around the idea that our leaders are showing too much concern for the struggle of ordinary Americans to make ends meet.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
$8,000,0000,000 for ethanal subsidies
Check
$50,000,000,000 for “aids in Africa”
Check
$50,000,000,000,000,000,000 for public schools with no accountability on how it’s being spent
Check
Losing your election trump card of fiscal responsiblity
Priceless
May 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Anonymous Commenter wrote:
. . . at least she hasn’t actually killed any ex-boyfriends, like Laura Bush
Meanwhile you guys on the left think Rove is the evil mind behind the McBushitler administration. Hey pal, Whittington would be six feet under if he’d gone hunting with Laura.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Terry:
The ex-boyfriend part is unknown, but Laura Bush did kill a schoolmate in a car accident.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp
May 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I think Terry was joshing, RickDFL. Jokingly asserting that Laura, not Cheney, is actually the evil mastermind behind the Bush administration.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
No, RickDFL; Citing this, “Citing this – “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day” as evidence” – as an example of “hatred and contempt” is itself an example of “hatred and contempt” for hard working Americans,” is itself an example of “hatred and contempt” for hard working Americans.
Give me a break. I have been one of those struggling folks, a couple of times in my life. Hearing someone like Michelle Obama patronizing those people – people like I and my family have been – is a knife between the shoulder blades.
Your primping, preening, patronization and faux outrage are recognized for they, and Mrs. Obama’s, are – the facile demigoguery of people whose entire political worldview is built on exploiting and sustaining poverty for political ends.
Shame on the both of you.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
DFL Rick,
At least AC has the consistency of screwing around and simply say, “Dunno, big guy. Ask Kermit,” when asked for how his statement applies.
You simply pull the I-am-rubber-and-you-are-glue tactic (for it is a lame DFL tactic) and never connect any dots… all the while smearing and lying about GOP contempt.
What a boor you are.
Now go get your shinebox.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Rick is an amateur in facile demigoguery (sp?). Now Clownie, on the other hand has a graduate degree.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Mitch wrote:
“Your primping, preening, patronization and faux outrage are recognized for they, and Mrs. Obama’s, are – the facile demigoguery of people whose entire political worldview is built on exploiting and sustaining poverty for political ends.”
Right back at you big boy. If you want to add “patronizing” to the list of things you consider objectionable about her comment feel free. It simply shows how grossly out of touch the GOP is. The simple fact is that most Americans agree with her statement we are now “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”. That is why recently “Consumer confidence fell to an all-time low”.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22605631
Again, I encourage the GOP to widely broadcast the fact that they do not share these economic concerns and, in fact, will criticize anyone who recognizes and acknowledges the economic concerns of ordinary Americans.
Clown and Terry – mea culpa, I should have read more closely. I was so surprised to find out the Laura Bush story was true, I forget to finish reading Terry post.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
“a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”… really, DFL Rick?
No hyperbole at all?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Right back at you big boy.
Yeah, Mitch. Quit “exploiting and sustaining poverty for political ends”.
Don’t you know that America sucks? Just ask Michelle Obama. And Rick.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The simple fact is that most Americans agree with her statement we are now “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”. That is why recently “Consumer confidence fell to an all-time low”.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22605631
There is no proven link between “most Americans agree with her statement we are now “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”. ” and consumer confidence being at an all time low in a CNBC poll.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Terry wrote:
“There is no proven link . . .”
You are always an interesting adventure in epistemology. Are you are arguing that just because people’s subjective estimate of their own financial well-being is the lowest on record, that does not mean they are right? If so, feel free to add this to the GOP message arsenal, ‘sure you people think you have it rough, but the GOP says you are wrong’.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Rick-
These statistics–from a March Pew poll–are probably a better indicator of how people feel about their own personal financial well being:
Americans are roughly divided between those who rate their personal finances as only fair or poor (51%) and those who say they are excellent or good (47%).
Looking to the future, most Americans (55%) believe their personal financial situation will improve over the next year, down only slightly from January, when 60% said their finances would improve. Meanwhile, 27% currently expect their finances to get worse, up slightly from 22% in January.
You could argue that the 51% who rate their personal finances as “fair” or “poor” supports your statement that:
most Americans agree with her statement we are now “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”.
Although it seems like quite a stretch to equate “fair” with “barely making it every day.” But the key stats is that 55% believe their personal situation will improve over the next year, while only 27% expect it to get worse.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Chad:
Thanks for the PEW data. I would say that these two data points in there that most directly bear on whether Americans agree with Mrs. Obama:
1. “Americans have grown steadily more negative about the national economy over the past three months. Just 11% of the public rates the economy as excellent or good, down from 17% in early February, and 26% in January. Judgments about the national economy are now as negative as they were during the recession of the early 1990s. In August 1993, 10% of Americans rated the economy as excellent or good in a Gallup survey.”
2. “The public’s increasingly grim views of the economy are reflected in assessments of the country’s overall direction. Just 22% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, the lowest percentage observed in any Pew Research Center survey since the fall of 1993.”
May 7th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Actually, RickDFL, I wasn’t arguing the consumer confidence #’s, just your notion that these numbers back up MO’s statement, “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day”.
If what she said is true, then it’s also true that the country has become “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day” since the Democrats took control of both of houses of congress in Jan 2007, when the consumer confidence index stood at 110.
Numbers like this measure exactly what they say they measure. They do not determine whether or not the entire nation can be described as struggling economically.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Terry:
“They do not determine whether or not the entire nation can be described as struggling economically.”
They may not “determine” the proposition, but they (plus the other figures Chad so helpfully pointed us towards) are certainly evidence for the proposition.
What evidence would you need to “determine” the proposition was true?
But please again, do not let me get in the way of the GOP’s election message of minimizing the economic struggles of working Americans.
Lots more like this:
http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/04/new_ad_on_john_1.php
May 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Yes, like infant mortality figures support single payer health care systems.
*snicker*
May 8th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
RickDFL, Michelle was using hyperbole. Economic times are not as good as they were five years or a decade ago, but unemployment is at near record lows & the stock market is at near record high. The economy is in much better shape for working Americans than it was during most of the 70’s & 80’s.
Also you seem to think I’m a GOP booster. I am a conservative, registered as an independent. My NIC is not “TerryGOP”.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
“Yes, like infant mortality figures support single payer health care systems.” Yikes-don’t get a nyone started on that please!
I think it’s pretty funny when you consider what “folks” think of as “struggling” and “barely making it every day”! What-only one cell phone in the family? Only 3 TVs and one Wii? What-only one new pair of $100 tennis shoes? What a load of crap. Struggling and barely making it. Our forebears would be able to show us a thing or two about that. Pitiful.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Colleen:
Please Please run on the platform: Vote GOP – They will keep living standards slightly above the 18th century.
Terry:
Actually the Stock Market is below where it was about eight years ago. That is bad performance.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
RickDFL-
Was that Stock market high point just before I lost 40% in Bill Clinton’s last year?-
Yeah, I thought so.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
RickDFL-
Is that stock market high the one that occurred just before I lost 40% in Bill Clinton’s last year?
May 9th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Timpf:
In Bill Clinton’s last year in office, the S&P 500 started at 1445.57 and fell to 1342.54. So you can blame Bill for a modest 7% loss, but the extra 33% was all you. Next time try an index fund.
Just FYI: Over Clinton’s two term’s the S&P 500 rose from 438.78 to 1342.54 while from the start of Bush term til now it has risen from 1366.01 to 1396.69.
So Democrats can claim a 240% increase vs. no increase.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:00 am
RickDFL seems to know a whole lot about timpfs stock portfolio…
…or he is talking about things he doesn’t know anything about. Par for the course, I say.
However, I applaud RickDFL for undermining the argument of all the previous posts with his FYI.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Troy:
Seriously, have you had a brain injury or were you always this stupid. I think at this point you are just embarrassing Mitch. You are giving the place a bad rep.
What I know about timpf’s stock portfolio is exactly and only what he told you, me, and everyone else, i.e. it went down 40% in Bill Clinton’s last year in office.
If you think pointing out that the stock market has had a very low rate of return under Bush undermines the case that working Americans are having a tough time of it, I don’t know what to tell you.
Ever heard of the Turning test,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
Your failing it.