Some People’s Obsessions

“Oh bother,” as Winnie The Pooh used to say. It seems that some people in the Right Blogosphere have gotten their knickers in a twist. The subject, the FLOTUS, First Lady Michelle Obama. The offense, daring to show up at the Oscars.

Sweet Baby Jesus On A Pogo Stick! Can one week go by without some right-wing twerp denigrating the FLOTUS. I ask you, for the love of Mike, give it a rest. This is the most traditional, most straight down the middle FLOTUS we have had since Mimi Eisenhower.

No, seriously, take a look at her four years in the position. What was her first agenda item? Military Families. Now separate the two words and drill down a bit. Who is exactly against our men and women in uniform? Other than the last dregs of the Radical Left mouldering away in some Ivory Tower padded cell because, tenure, no one says a discoursing word about the troops these days. And who is exactly against families? No, again, seriously, who? The arguments we have about family is what the definition of family is. Liberals like to propose a more flexible and more inclusive model while conservative are just fine with old-school patriarchy mixed with large helping of misogyny. But every one is for families of one sort or another. So being for Military Families is about as mom and apple pie as you can get.

The next agenda item of Ms Obama, healthy diet. Again, seriously, how more mom can you get than “eat your veggies, they’re good for you?” Yet the yammering yahoos that infest Conservative Talk Radio went berserk and insisted that to be a true, full-blooded, American it was your civic duty to shove triple cheeseburgers down your gullet like there was no tomorrow. Weeks of precious airtime was devoted to unleashing this five-year-old temper tantrum.

Linked with vegetables was Ms. Obama’s next big crusade, getting kids active. Um, exactly when did it become a Communist plot when your mom told you to get out of the house and play? I kinda missed that. But once more the Oxycontin Blimp went into full alert. It was now you patriotic duty to consume those bi-pass burgers whilst encrusting your comfy chair. Real Americans proved their worth by being inert blobs shoveling junk food into there craw for God and Country.

The reelection of the Obamas has seemed to only increase the amount of spittle flying in from stage right. You know, its a shame that all that fluid can’t be redirected to Kansas and other drought struck states. Be that as it may, Conservative have not been able to get pass the anger stage of the Kübler-Ross model. Hell, many have still not got passed denial.

Michelle Obama has been an incredibly competent FLOTUS. She has been a 21st Century First Lady living in the land of Stepford Wife Washington. It has been a very long time since we have had such a down-to-earth, no-nonsense, comfortable-in-her-own-skin, powerful woman backing up her man. She is the very acme of a striving Middle Class Woman who made it on her own grit and determination. That she did this as a woman of color is damn near epic.

But instead of being celebrated for what she is, she is abused in print, video and on the airwaves by privileged white male hacks with not a tenth of the grace and style she possess.

Ms. Obama is her own woman; a woman for the 21st Century. Comparisons have been made to Jackie Kennedy, but no, Michelle is not Jackie. Jackie never really escaped her finishing-school, debutant, gilded cage. Jackie alway had an air of brittleness and privilege that she never shook off. Jackie had style but it was always an unreachable, regal, Haute Couture, style. Jackie always made sure you knew that she was not one of the mere mortals. Michelle, on the other hand, could not be more grounded if she were wrapped in copper coil and ran to earth. She shops for some of her outfits at Target for heaven’s sake.

This whole Oscar Hubbub is beyond pointless. It is just some very mean and stupid people saying mean and stupid things because they are bullies and jerks. While Obama’s presidency still sits on the knife-edge between mediocrity and good, sorry kids greatness is not in his reach, I would put Michelle up there with some of the best First Ladies. She is a major assets to her husband, and she really has yet to strike a wrong note. She has played it safe with a very traditional First Lady policy program, with no sudden or awkward moves. Yet she has done this in her own inimitable style, and with no small amount of flair. The obsession that the bullies on the right have with her only shows how small and petty they have become.