I have heard many of my African-American professional female friends and colleagues express similar sentiments (as Michelle Obama) that reflect the very conflicted experience of being black and female in this country. I don't think many people understand the thousand little slights that occur both when you clean the offices and when you manage the offices as an African-American woman. Visceral, consuming pride in one's nation is borne out of an essential sense of belonging to and ownership of the communal American experience. That sense of belonging is never quite assured for many African-American women.

Perhaps not, but to win a national election, you must appeal to more then people who are exactly like you. Ms Obama's words were poorly chosen if she in fact is interested in her husband winning in November. Senator Obama has such a positive take on America. It is his appeal. She comes off as a real downer. Granted, his wife is not running for office, but unless she is subconciously trying to sabotage her husbands campaign, she might want to think about what she is saying.

Mrs. Obama comes from modest background but she has 2 degrees from prestigious white universities, she worked at a top white law firm, and she just quit her job at another prestigious white university.

Stop me when we get to where this "racist" country has held Mrs. Obama (or her husband: he's even more of an elite than Mrs. Obama is) back or denied her access to the American story.

maybe michelle osamba would be prouder if she lived in new orleans and had that stellar local government taking care of things.

maybe she can convince the american people that her old man can do for the whole country what those politicians have done for new orleans or zimbabwe.

Your resentments are showing.

Maybe the readers need to step back and concede that they have no idea what it is like to be an African-American woman in any socioeconomic echelon. Degrees from highly regarded white institutions did not ameliorate the "thousand little slights" that she likely experienced while living in a country whose major social challenge is RACE. She is not someone from means, having grown up in south side Chicago to working class parents.

Having Michelle as first lady might be a great opportunity for persons to see that they cannot project their own experience and perception of the American dream to everyone.

maybe it's time to ask ms. osamba why miserable complainers such as herself keep voting for democrats based on their record of keeping things exactly as they are.

Very tiresome: any adult of any background could nurse the 1,000 slights she's endured for whatever reason, all the while gazing contentedly at her Princeton and Harvard degrees and a husband who may become the 44th president.

It's really hard to hear from someone who rakes in over $200K how disadvantaged she is.

Lady Obama is an elite and her husband is an elite. They may have worked their way to this status, but they're elites, nonetheless.

The Obamas are to the working-class African-Americans (hell, working-class people) what George W. Bush is to cowboys.

Wow, irvingchang. It's not your resentment so much as your racism showing. If your argument is that blacks are incompetent when it comes to governance, then I don't see how people who point out racism are just a bunch of "complainers."

If she just would have said, "I've never been more proud of America in my adult life. . . ," the comment would never have been picked up by the Right. She and Barack have done too much to fall into easy traps.

'If your argument is that blacks are incompetent when it comes to governance, then I don't see how people who point out racism are just a bunch of "complainers."'

then suppose you tell me why they are always complaining how bad things are for them but vote for democrats based on it's track record of keeping things exactly as they are.

give it a try.

While you could argue that the Democratic party hasn't done enough recently for minorities, the poor and the working class, it is the party of the civil rights movement. The Republican party, on the other hand, has uses race baiting arguments to win white votes and makes little to no effort to court black votes or address the issues important to black voters.

Also, "its" is the possessive you're looking for, not "it's."

'While you could argue that the Democratic party hasn't done enough recently for minorities..'

what do minorities need done for them and why do they need it done? what they need is for you saps to stop fighting vouchers so they can escape from those horrendous government run schools. what they need is private accounts so they can pass some of their wealth on to their heirs instead of the crappy deal they get from socialist security. blacks die younger and are getting screwed by the system worse than me.

what they need is for patronizing, guilt pushing, bigots such as yourself to stop using them as political pawns.

if you want to treat something like a housepet, get a yorkie or some golfish.

What Irving needs are some new Republican talking points and a stroll outside of his mom's basement apartment.

tjcerveza:

but unless she is subconciously trying to sabotage her husbands campaign, she might want to think about what she is saying.

Maybe she is. I thought I read an interview last year in which she dissuaded him from seeking the presidency. Then, in January, she was quoted as saying that if Obama loses this election, there will be no future runs.

I am neutral about the content of her statements themselves: whether someone feels constrained and disjointed in mainstream U.S. society or whether one revels in it varies fom person to person. If The New York Times comments pages are any indication, there are many in the Euro-American majority who feel the way Michelle Obama does.

But tjcerveza got it right: this is not a statement that a person who wants to be elected leader of this country should be linked with. And this potential controversy has a bit more substance than the spurious "he didn't wear a flag pin" complaints.

ONe more thing that bothers me about her statements:

Taken in context, they really do sound as though she is proud of her country because they are voting for her husband. I understand that she credits her new pride to America's demonstrated hunger for change.

But think about it: According to his campaign, Obama IS change. So if B. Obama is change, and M. Obama is proud of her country for hungering for change, then M. Obama is proud of her country for hungering for B. Obama.

This strikes me as a very honest statement, but one unseemly in its naked self-centeredness. Someone needs to remind her that this is politics: ambition and ego are a must, but only decorously clothed.