Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
Quite simply, the context was about the upwelling of people, especially younger people, getting excited and engaged with their government.
The line was a bit sensationalistic and Her speechwriters/handlers should have realized it left her too open for criticism. But given the situation it's also a quite reasonable thing to believe, the energy around Obama's candidacy was like something I know I've never seen in American politics.
The reversal, that this is the first time she's ever been proud of her country as an adult is really quite a silly thing to believe when you put a little thought into it, especially considering how the Obama's have remarked that their story would be impossible anywhere but the USA. Yes it fits ScottW's tin-foil hat Alynsky obsessed fantasy of commies trying to undermine America, but outside of that, it's just a clumsy remark that was blown out of proportion by a well coordinated effort to tear Obama down.
-spence
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no...it acutually makes sense in context with her many other comments...
The Other Obama by Lauren Collins
Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and
life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “
Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”
From these bleak generalities, Obama moves into specific complaints. Used to be, she will say, that you could count on a decent education in the neighborhood. But now there are all these charter schools and magnet schools that you have to “finagle” to get into. (Obama herself attended a magnet school, but never mind.) Health care is out of reach (“
Let me tell you, don’t get sick in America”), pensions are disappearing, college is too expensive, and even if you can figure out a way to go to college you won’t be able to recoup the cost of the degree in many of the professions for which you needed it in the first place. “You’re looking at a young couple that’s just a few years out of debt,” Obama said. “See, because, we went to those good schools, and we didn’t have trust funds.
I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund. Especially after I heard that #^&#^&#^&#^& Cheney was s’posed to be a relative or something. Give us something here!”
Read more
Michelle Obama’s pride and the politics of candor : The New Yorker