Blither Blather & Blah

So the Democrats kicked off their party last night. They trotted out oldies but goodies like Jimmy Carter and Teddy Kennedy. People cheered. Signs were pumped up and down. People cried.

Michelle Obama gave a speech. I didn’t watch any of it but this is what I “heard” when I read the text:

Blah blah blah … when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name … blah blah blah … Instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack had gone to work in neighborhoods devastated when steel plants shut down, and jobs dried up … blah blah blah … people who stood up and marched and risked everything they had … blah blah blah … That is why I love this country… blah blah blah … I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much … blah blah blah [all emphasis mine]

The sections I bolded were interesting to me.

The ones about loving her country, the country that has given her so much. I’m not fooled Michelle. This speech was carefully crafted to address the various gaffes you have made while campaigning on your husband’s behalf in an attempt to paint you as this caring, sensitive soccer mom. You don’t love this country, you haven’t been proud of it until now and I think you feel that this country has given you what you believe it owed to you.

The bit about Obama going to work in depressed neighborhoods really shows the arrogance and blatant hypocrisy of the man. These are the same people he accused of being bitter, “clinging to guns and their faith when the jobs dried up” to a room full of uber-wealthy campaign donors in San Francisco.

At least 2 of Michelle’s comments are race-based.

The one about Obama’s “funny name” harkens back to his speech about how the Republicans are going to make us afraid of him because he’s got a funny name and doesn’t look like the presidents on our currency . The other about people who “stood up and marched” is a clear reference to the civil rights movement. In that portion of her speech, Michelle Obama makes it very clear that the only people who have taken risks and struggled to make ends meet in this country - are not white.

I am so sick of this argument, as if the black community in this country has cornered the market on suffering and struggle. Yes, that community has had struggles unique in the human experience; I don’t wish to diminish the horror of slavery or the nightmare of prejudice. Indeed, my mother is ¼ Native American – if you want to talk about horrors and prejudice we can go there…and it won’t be pretty even within her own family. Yes, I am white and grew up in a comfortable upper-middle-class home. But no one handed that to my family on a silver platter.

My father was the product of working class people – his father was a machinist and his mother was a housekeeper and a waitress. My dad started his married life with no money and no prospects, but took every risk there was to become a successful businessman, providing a comfortable and secure life for his family. He worked 80+ hours a week, traveling 3 days each week away from his family, to build a business from nothing. It was his passion and it killed him. And I am so proud of all that he accomplished – with his high school education .

My mother’s family struggled with racism from within. Her maternal grandmother was a full Native American who married a white man of “society”. He died in the influenza epidemic at the turn of the last century – and his family cast her and their children out with nothing.

Talk to my father-in-law about struggles and risks. He worked 3 jobs to provide for his family – working days, nights, weekends and holidays. My mother-in-law went to work full time to pursue a career at a time when women stayed at home with their families. She retired as a bank Vice President – talk about “18 million pieces of a glass ceiling” – my MIL was pecking holes in that ceiling long before Michelle Obama stepped onto the Harvard campus. My MIL did it with a high school education; same for my FIL.

Half of the grandparents of both my husband and I were first generation Americans whose families risked their lives to come to this country, let alone provide for their families. Leaving everything they ever knew behind to start a new life of opportunity.

My husband and I have a better life than our parents, who had better than their parents, and so on. This is not an experience unique to the black community.

The vast majority of Americans have experiences similar to those of my family and my husband’s. While it is true that there are many who have not faced the struggles and risks of which Michelle Obama speaks – I am tired of those struggles and risks being attributed solely to one portion of our population.

Comments

[Karen]

Amen, Kris. The Obamas look petty and whiny. They've had complete access to the best of everything and yet still have huge chips on their shoulders. Blah, blah, blah, is right.