Michelle Obama Reality Check

[hollowdweller]

Michelle Obama: ‘For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I Am Really Proud of My Country’

Ok, now I know she's backpedaled and all that stuff but how old is the lady??

Barack is 45? I'm thinking that she might be 44?

I'm 48. So lets say Michelle's "adult life" began at 20 which would have been 1983??

So in all honesty what has happened in that time to be really proud about?

Reagan breaking the air traffic controllers union?
Widespread drug testing of everyone?
Reagan tripling the deficit?
Trading arms to Iran for Hostages?
Giving arms to Saddam to fight Iran?
Giving arms to the Tailaban to fight the USSR?
The Gulf War where the US acted as Kuwaiti mercenaries after a massive disinformation campaign by the admin and a huge $$$ public relations lobbying blitz by the Kuwaitis?
Welfare reform?
The 1994 GOP takeover of the house?
Block grants?
NAFTA?
Monica?
Letting 9/11 happen?
Iraq?
Abu Gharib?
The skyrocketing deficit and national debt?
Secret US prisons?
Top 1% making out like bandits while the middle class shrinks?

About the only bright spot was Clinton balancing the budget but basically every good thing Clinton done was reversed by Bush. He basically destroyed any legacy that Clinton left.

I mean I'm 48 and the Dems taking back congress, the national dialogue changing, and the possiblity of the most progressive candidate that also happens to be the first black president having a shot at the White House? Damn! I'm about as pround as I have been in my adult life too!

[jasmine621]

1. That was not the quote that started the crap. In her first speech that day

she did not use the word "really." I heard it live. In a subsequent speech the same day she added the word "really."

[LittleClarkie]

2. Or maybe the word "really" was supposed to be there in the first place and she goofed

Rather like Kerry and the botched joke.

To much is being made of one speech and one word.

[hollowdweller]

6. OK but what has happened since 1980 to be proud of?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. Off the top of my head:

Massive reductions in discrimination on grounds of race, sex and orientation.
Intervention in Kosovo.
Fall of the Berlin Wall & end of the Cold War
Invention of the internet.

I'm sure there are lots more if someone does more than cursory research at a time other than 2 in the morning. I shall go to bed now. Good night, all...

[hollowdweller]

18. Not sure I agree with all those examples

The discrimination aspect really depends on where you live so one might be more proud of certain areas.

I think the whole Kosovo thing is questionable. May come back to bite us in the ass just like our intrusion in Afghanistan to help the Tailaban.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the End of the Cold War? What did it bring us? Our defense budget is still growing and we feel more free now to intervene in other countries affairs now there is no counterbalance. You really think we would have invaded Iraq if the cold war was still on?

I can agree with you on the net though! :-)

[rodeodance]

20. None the less--like Kerry--there is damage done by her waiting till today

to 'explain' what she meant.


it was carried on all the networks. i heard it on abc.

[bellasgrams]

24. The clip I saw she was dead serious, no joking to it. She said it

and I couldn't believe my ears that this woman, who is wanting to be first lady of this nation, would have the nerve to say she had never been proud of it. That takes unmitigated gall. Unbelievable. And I thought BO was arrogant.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

3. I t hought it was a pretty good 25 years--------why don't you

research and list all the good things that happened.

The glass is half full.

[Hobarticus]

5. Nah...might contradict the OP's POV...

...and thus ain't gonna happen.

[hollowdweller]

8. I tried. I didn't come up with a whole hell of a lot

[frogcycle]

14. Our measured intervention, albeit belated, in the Balkans

That's about it, but that is case where the US used diplomacy and carefully measured force to save many, many lives.

[Fredda Weinberg]

4. We're almost the same age and we've both seen Black candidates

before. This one doesn't hold a candle to Ms Jordan.

Of course I've been proud of my country in my lifetime - and what insulted me more was her implication that until her husband came along, none of us were organizing.

But that is the way things are in this American Idol culture. Michelle will be understood by everyone who lives in this majority/minority district.

[Straight Shooter]

17. I watched her explanation of her gaffe. She never mentioned names of those who came before.

[hollowdweller]

19. Shirley Chisolm rocked

I was 12 and I still have a set of Democratic primary bubble gum cards with Shirley Chisholm on them!

I broke my arm that year and my orthopedist told me he might slip and cut my arm off with my cast because i had "McGovern 72" written on it.

My dad took me to the airport to shake hands with Jay Rockefeller and Shriver when he came to WV to campaign!

[Straight Shooter]

21. One of the greats.

McGovern 72. I remember my older brother and father arguing at the dinner table. Thanks for the memories. :)

[Fredda Weinberg]

27. I remember Shirley!!!! Yes, those were the days. Oh, we haven't

forgotten the promise ... we've been hard at work all these years.

And Michelle comes along - I'm sorry, but she's no Big Dog ... whatever she's got, I don't want.

[islandmkl]

7. Reality? Reality? Who are you to speak of reality in GD:P?

You don't know Reality! You can't handle Reality! We want shit, 100% USDA shit on this site. F****** Reality! Get THAT shit outta here. Who are you? Why are doing this to us?


REALITY? aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............

[Middle finga]

9. Not to mention the domestic things like

Katrina
Allowing drugs in the inner cities
The highest prison population in the world
Richest country with millions of people in poverty
Richest country with millions of people without health care
more and more people having to work 2 to 3 jobs just to make ends meet

[hollowdweller]

11. Yeah and those too

[Hobarticus]

10. Why is it necessary to SHIT on past Dems and their labors?

Is this the new HOPE and CHANGE schtick? Deny that anyone ever before Obama ever worked hard for this country?

GOD I'm sick of this automaton knee-jerk horse shit. It's obnoxious and arrogant.

[hollowdweller]

12. What the heck are you talking about?

You seem to be the only one here being obnoxious.

[Sybbis]

15. It's repugnant to true Democrats but to Obama supporters...

Bashing Democrats and trying to destroy them with Republican smears is business as usual. That's why I'm getting so turned off to Obama. I used to have a fairly positive impression of him but after dealing with his rookie mistakes and the destructiveness of his supporters - not so much anymore. It shows their youth and inexperience. Obama and his supporters don't have what it takes to win a general election in this country.

They have no respect for the Party, no Party discipline, no decency towards long-time Party supporters and activists. Basically, they act like spoiled little brats with no understanding of how the political process actually operates. Without the Clinton Democrats, whom they have alienated probably beyond repair, the Republicans will crush Barack Obama. It doesn't matter who they run, without Clinton Democrats Obama will fail in November.

Why they are too stupid to realize this is just another indication that they are not ready to convert the nomination into the White House. Gee, who already knows how to do that? I wonder....

[hollowdweller]

16. What the hell are YOU talking about??

Do you think 25 years of Republicans controlling the presidency, both housees of congress or all three was a good thing??

[Omega3]

23. how old are you, BC was in the white house for 8 years , middle class income rose $6,000/year,

oh yeah, that's right, you Obamabots will do anything to bag on Bill Clinton to get your inexperienced BHO elected, sick, really sick,

Excelon, Rezko, there's more coming , it's just a matter of time...

[hollowdweller]

26. Clinton was the best president since I've been able to vote

And I'm 48. I'd hate to see what we'd be living with if he didn't win both times.

However I don't really feel like he changed the national dialogue. I feel like he more or less just softened up some of the more wicked stuff the GOP did.

Not his fault really the country was WAY to the right then with GOP talk radio and no Democratic internet to counterbalance.

While I liked Clinton I really wasn't proud of my country at any time then. The Republicans had congress mostly and passed a lot of regressive shit. Clinton vetoed what he could but I wouldn't call the Clinton years a shining spot in the last 25 years.

I think some of the paid Clinton internet people (like you?) posting in this thread am thinking I'm knocking him but I'm not. The country is more than the president, and I didn't see any great shining accomplishments then. Sorry.

[Fredda Weinberg]

28. I wish you'd chill. Snarling helps no one anytime. n/t

[cooolandrew]

22. Me too!!! I have never smiled so much for such a long time this is special. A great journey awaits.

K&R

[hedda_foil]

25. I think that when she said "my country" ...

I think that when she says "my country," she thinks of the citizens of the US -- not the government. That would be an amazing attitude for a First Lady -- to think of we, the people, as the country. That seemed to me to be what she was saying in her explanation and it makes sense to me.

[CorpGovActivist]

29. Where's your "holler" located?

I have dwelled in hollers almost half my life.

:toast: