First Lady Macbeth?

I didn't think it was possible for anyone to surpass Bill Clinton on my ookyometer.  Then Hillary stepped into the spotlight.  A year ago, the Almighty Himself would have had His work cut out for Him convincing me someone could top Hillary on the ookyometer, but then along came Barack Obama.  And just when I thought he was going to retire the title for good, here comes his beloved.

I had already been given a severe case of the willies by her fundraising letter for the 2004 Obama Senatorial campaign about the “so called” partial birth abortion ban.  I've blogged about it before, but I don't think it can get enough attention, all things considered.  So here it is again.

Dear Friends:

We have all been concerned lately with the rise of conservatism in this country, especially as it relates to women. You’ve read the alarming news about the Justice Department’s request for hospitals to turn over the private medical records of dozens of patients. This cynical ploy is designed to intimidate a group of physicians and force them to drop their lawsuit seeking to have the so-called partial birth abortion ban ruled unconstitutional.

The fact remains, with no provision to protect the health of the mother, this ban on a legitimate medical procedure is clearly unconstitutional and must be overturned. Attorney General Ashcroft and President Bush believe so zealously in their cause that the privacy rights of patients are under assault. They believe we have no federal right to privacy when it concerns our medical histories.

On March 16th, we have a chance to nominate a candidate who will be tireless in the fight to protect women. It isn’t simply about the right to choose, or privacy rights. It is about pay equity, about ending domestic violence, promoting health care around the world, and letting doctors decide treatment options, not federal judges.

It goes without saying that we must win back the U.S. Senate and hold our ground as a check against the right-wing executive branch. Illinois will be a key battleground and your vote is critical.

My husband has stood up for women time and again, and I am proud of his record. He understands that casting a vote on the floor of the Senate takes greater courage than issuing a position paper. Oftentimes, a well intentioned law is in fact a flawed law. That’s why it is critical we nominate someone who has faced these tough choices. That’s why nominating an experienced legislator is so important in this race. It takes courage to cast a vote.

Who among the Democrats running has a proven record? Who among the candidates running for the Senate in Illinois has stood up to the right wing politicians and voted against their agenda? Who can we count on to keep the Bush/Ashcroft team from appointing the Supreme Court Justice that will vote against Roe v. Wade?

Please join me in sending a message of unity and strength by attending the Women for Obama Luncheon on February 23rd at the Hyatt Regency. Lunch costs $150 and includes remarks from our friends the Reverend Willie Barrow and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. To reserve your seat please call the campaign office headquarters at 312-427-6400 or log on to the Obama for Illinois Website.

I urge you to stand with me and support my husband at this event. You know the stakes have never been higher and we can’t depend on untested amateurs and administrators in this fight. Barack is a fighter and he will be a champion we can be proud of.

Thanks you so much for all of your support.

Signature: Michelle Obama

Now, I have to say, I'm with her on the "so called" partial birth abortion ban.  I'd prefer we get rid of that ridiculous term and call it what it is: baby murder.  But I don't think that's what she meant.  At any rate, I find her attitude as chilling as her husband's, when it comes to the issue of abortion.  If there is a more cold-blooded couple in American politics, I defy anyone to name them.

Today we learn that Michelle Obama is not only cold-blooded, she is also ... I'm not quite sure what. Somewhere between "a loose cannon" and "off her rocker."  How on earth could a woman who is as intelligent as she allegedly is, in the middle of her husband's very close race for his party's nomination for president, make this public statement:  "...for the first time in my adult life I am really proud of my country."

At the very, very least, this shows a profound lack of judgement.

Michelle Obama is 44 years old. She has been an adult since 1982. Below is a partial list of the things that have not made her proud.

First, the ones you'd think she might find uplifting for personal reasons:

The first female Supreme Court Justice

The second African American Supreme Court Justice

The first (and second) African American Secretary(ies) of State

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991

The official recognition of a national holiday for Martin Luther King Day

Those are just off the top of my head.  If she is capable of stepping outside of the issues that pertain only to herself (and I'm not convinced that she is), we have these:

The end of the Cold War

Our part in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall

Billions of dollars of humanitarian aid in every corner of the earth

Rescue efforts and humanitarian aid following the Oklahoma City Bombing

Survival of 9/11

America's (and Americans') response to the Indonesian tsunami...and to Hurricane Katrina, and a thousand un-named disasters all over the planet, and to every unsung and quickly forgotten earthquake, flood, tornado, mudslide, wildfire, sinkhole, wind storm...

(Hell, I'm proud of America every time I see a Mason jar full of loose change on the register in a two-pump gas station and general store adorned by a photo of someone's sick child or a teenaged victim of a Friday night car wreck.)

Space Shuttle launches in Michelle Obama's "adult life":

           Too numerous to list, or even to count!  But you can see the details here.

As everyone except Michelle Obama and the America-hating Left knows, I could spend the rest of the day making this list.  And before the "Yeah, but..." brigade gets wound up, I am not saying that America is faultless or blameless.  The issue at hand is whether or not there has been anything since 1982 that should make the possible future First Lady proud of her country.

Let's glance at Michelle Obama's own life.  She is an African-American woman, educated at Princeton and Harvard, was on the staff for the mayor of Chicago, the University of Chicago, married a handsome and well-educated man who could quite possibly become the first African-American president of the United States.  (Personally, I hope very much that I will see the first African-American president of the United States in my lifetime, and that it will not be Barack Obama.)  She herself stands a very real possibility of becoming not only the First Lady, but the first African-American First Lady. 

In 1992, ten years into Michelle Obama's "adult life," I was living in Los Angeles.  On one day of that year, I was at a meeting at a hotel in Hollywood.  I stepped out on to the patio and I could see smoke all over the city.  The verdict in the Rodney King trial had been announced; the city was on fire.  I got into my car and drove home.  The half-hour drive took three hours, because everyone in the city was doing the same thing.  I spent the entire drive home on the phone with my husband, because I was afraid for my life.  A car packed with African-American males in their early twenties pulled up beside me on the shoulder.  I couldn't move in any direction because I was surrounded by other cars that couldn't move, filled with other drivers on their cell phones, also afraid for their lives and talking to their loved ones. 

The men in the car stared at me.  I had my doors locked, but if they'd had a baseball bat, that wouldn't have mattered.  They could see that I was afraid.  They were laughing.  They wanted me to be afraid.  They wanted me to think that they were going to get out of their car and kill me with a baseball bat.  Luckily, they only wanted to see my fear.  They drove on to terrorize other caucasions in other cars.

On that day, I would not have believed that Michelle Obama could be this close to being First Lady in my adult lifetime.

I am bothered by the people who are voting for Obama simply because he's an African-American.  In no way does that honor Martin Luther King's dream, which was that someday a man would be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.  But I haven't heard a single person, from Los Angeles to the rural south, say that Obama shouldn't be president because he's an African-American.

Given the fact that the restroom doors said "White" and "Colored" when I was Caleb's age, that fact makes me very proud of America.

The country that has shamed her has provided Michelle Obama the podium from which to make her idiotic statements.  And that fact should have made her proud, a long time before yesterday.

Comments

[Catholic Audio]

Rodney King was in '92, not '82.

But I'm with you about the rest of it.

God Bless,

[Karen]

Oops.

I'm at the age where it all runs together.

I'll go fix it. Thanks!

[Anne]

Today we learn that Michelle Obama is not only cold-blooded, she is also ... I'm not quite sure what.

Deranged? Self-absorbed? Bitter with no reason to be?

If this is what an Ivy league education gets you these days my daughter's future years at a Cal State sound very attractive.

I hope they keep MO out front and center and that everyone's ookyometer tuned up.

I have a lot of friends who were ambivalent about the Gore Vs Bush election until they started listening to Gore. They weren't as horrified by WHAT he was saying (this is California, after all) as the way he said. A lot of people I know said there was no way they could listen to that pontificating, patronizing, ponderous tone for 4 years without going insane. Hopefully everyone will feel the same about MO's shrillness.

[tom]

Does this mean Michelle won't be expecting you at the private gathering for her tomorrow in Rhode Island - or on the grounds of the Community College of Rhode Island where she will also be speaking? Better to break the sad news now, over the internet, than leave her crying at the microphone!

[Mary Ann]

The first African-American Supreme Court justice was Thurgood Marshall, appointed in 1967. The second African-American Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, was appointed during Michelle Obama's adulthood.

But I have no argument with your main point.

[Karen]

You're right. I'll fix that, too.

I had completely forgotten that he was black! Martin Luther King would be happy.

[Bruce Robertson]

Karen,

I am having a hard time taking you seriously. Can anyone seriously challenge Bill and Hillary Clinton on a rational ookyometer? As a person who lived through their first "copresidency" I seriously doubt it. Eight long, painful and embarassing years cannot be rivaled by a single missive or campaign no matter how grotesque.

While I am not sure what moment would make me proudest of being an American in my adult years, I can unequivocally tell you the episode that made me the most ashamed of my country. Don't you remember rabid democrats defending the president's right to engage in consensual sex with a college-aged intern in the oval office? After years of "bimbo damage control" by the President and the First Enabler, (Do the names Paula Jones, Jennifer Flowers and Kathleen Willey mean anything to you?) I thought it was impossible for me to be more ashamed of the behavior of my President. I was wrong.

I suppose it is possible to argue that your definition of "ooky" is reasonable. This would, however, depend on what your definition of the word "is" is.

[Jonny]

Just a point on abortion; how can you classify it so simply as murder. You have i right to an opinion and i respect that, but how dare you?
Abortion is such a hotly debated subject; you can't criticize for using correct terminology. I am pro-choice, so of course i am outraged. You generalize it as though it is common knowledge Perhaps next time you will do us all the favor of not bringing your own opinion into an article. Shame on you.