The Blog

The Cynical Wife of an American Senator

11:52 AM, Feb 20, 2008 • By MICHAEL GOLDFARB
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Her husband attempts to "clarify" her earlier remarks:

Statements like this are made and people try to take it out of context and make a great big deal out of it, and that isn't at all what she meant. What she meant was, this is the first time that she's been proud of the politics of America. Because she's pretty cynical about the political process, and with good reason, and she's not alone. But she has seen large numbers of people get involved in the process, and she's encouraged.

It's still the same creepy message. Apparently the only thing that might redeem this country in the eyes of Michelle Obama is the election of her husband as president of the United States. That's not good enough. This implies that the Obamas aren't running for office in order to serve the country that they love--because this country has, in fact, been so good to them--but in order to save the country from itself. The country has not been nearly so good to John McCain, who spent five years in a prison camp during a war I'm sure the Obamas think should never have been fought. And yet he isn't "cynical" about the political process. So what, exactly, does a woman like Michelle Obama have to be cynical about? Low turnout? That's the best they could come up with?

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