Michelle Obama is Fair Game in Campaign '08

Michelle Obama is one of the most significant reasons Americans should oppose the election of Barack Obama to the presidency.

The role of the first lady is so multi-faceted, from the official West-Wing office with appointments, policy-advocacy, scheduling, and Secret Service, to the intimite late-evening pillow-slip political advice, the president's wife is an integral part of the direction and public image of any presidential administration.

I personally cringe at the thought of Michelle Obama travelling the country advocating particular policy position, meeting people around the country as a key spokeswoman for her husband's administration, knowing that she's never been proud of this country, and knowing that she's on record as supporting theories of active black separation from the American mainstream.

But these are Michelle Obama's positions - America's an unmitigated racist society, from which black Americans should fear for being sucked into a hegemonic white culture, thus losing a black identity that's apparently of tremendous worth as a source of grievance and reparation.

These issues matter a great deal in the race for the White House, because they touch on the ceremonial and symbolic position of the presidency as the repository of American tradition and values. Indeed, Michelle Obama's cultural oppositionalism - as a salient proxy for Obamist ideological foundations - may be one of the most important flashpoints in the election's partisan divide.

See Robin Abcarian, for example:

They loved to hate Hillary Rodham Clinton. They loved to hate Teresa Heinz Kerry. And now, it appears, conservative voices are energetically taking on Michelle Obama.
"Mrs. Grievance" bellowed the cover of a recent National Review, which featured a photo of a fierce-looking Obama. The magazine's online edition titled an essay about her stump speech "America's Unhappiest Millionaire."

Michelle Malkin, the popular conservative blogger, called her "Obama's bitter half."

Even the relatively liberal online magazine Slate piled on. In a piece subtitled "Is Michelle Obama responsible for the Jeremiah Wright fiasco?" the contrarian Christopher Hitchens blamed her for her husband's pastor troubles since she was a member of the church first.

The would-be first lady does not make pronouncements about policy and has insisted that her priority in the White House would be her two young daughters. But Obama has an earthy sense of humor that sometimes gets her in trouble. And in speeches, she shares her belief that the country's spirit is broken and in need of repair -- by her husband, whom she often describes as "special."

It was an unscripted remark as she spoke in February about the enthusiastic response to his message of hope that set off conservatives: "And let me tell you something," she told a Wisconsin crowd. "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

The Obama campaign clarified her remarks right away: "What she meant is that she's really proud at this moment because for the first time in a long time, thousands of Americans who've never participated in politics before are coming out in record numbers to build a grass-roots movement for change."

But conservatives pressed the attack. John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary, wrote that she had inadvertently revealed "the pseudo-messianic nature of the Obama candidacy."

The issue has shown no signs of going away....

Michelle Obama's antagonists ignore her when she says: "We have overcome so much in this country: racism, sexism, civil wars." Instead, they focus on: "Life for regular folks has gotten worse over the course of my lifetime." Or: "Our souls are broken. . . . The problem is us." Or: "We're too cynical. And we are still a nation that is too mean -- just downright mean to one another. We don't talk to each other in civil tones."

In the current climate -- where sound bites are recycled endlessly and context is ignored in favor of impact -- her more dour pronouncements have paved the way for brutal critiques.

"This is a huge debate among Republicans," said Malkin, who noted that until Obama's "proud" remark, "she was the new, glamorous Jackie O, and most stories focused on her pearls and wardrobe." But, Malkin added, "from what I've seen, despite her husband's admonition to lay off of her, she's not stopping what she's doing, and I don't think the rest of us should ignore her and treat her with kid gloves."

Actually, Michelle Obama is still being feted in the left-wing press as the new Jackie O.

Sunday's New York Times fashion page boasted that Michelle Obama "dresses to win":

Unlikely as it seems, Michelle Obama, the corporate lawyer with a big education, a bigger résumé and a history of high earnings, can sometimes appear to be tempering her own strong personality with a modernized version of another era’s ladylike clothes....

[According to] Hamish Bowles, the Vogue editor who assembled the clothes for the Jacqueline Kennedy show at the Met in 2001, the power of clothes “that look dramatic in newspapers and photographs” can boost a politician’s image, as Mrs. Kennedy demonstrated throughout her husband’s campaign and presidency.

“As Jackie did, the way Mrs. Obama presents herself sends out messages that are subliminal and sometimes overt,” Mr. Bowles said. This is not merely a matter of conjuring Camelot with a updated version of an iconic Kenneth coiffure. Hair matters, as anyone knows who has tracked the unending styling travails of a woman once known as “Hairband Hillary.”

WHILE Mrs. Kennedy relied on a carefully assembled coterie of wealthy women — Jayne Wrightsman, Bunny Mellon, Nicole Alphand— to advise her on matters of style, Michelle Obama apparently pulls off the feat of getting dressed on her own.

So here we have an early, hopped-up glamor comparison between Michelle Obama - who is on record as resisting the pull of a dominant white social-political hiearchy - being compared breathlessly to the 20th-century's most glamorous first lady, Jackie O, who few people would identify as harboring anti-American animosities or championing moral diatribes against the nation, such as "Our souls are broken..."

Save such style comparisons for someone more worthy. Let's let Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis rest in peace. Michelle Obama will never meet the elegance, rectitude, or style of the American Camelot's first lady.