Michelle Obama and Feminism

[cynodd]

Mary C. Curtis writes in the Washington post, in an article titled, "The Loud Silence of Feminists," "Michelle Obama has become an issue in the presidential campaign even though she isn't running for anything. An educated, successful lawyer, devoted wife and caring mother has been labeled "angry" and unpatriotic and snidely referred to as Barack

Comments

[rattlesnakeroot]

I'm conflicted about Michelle Obama. I don't agree with some of the things she has said in the media, which were off-putting, but at the same time, she is going to be treated like a pariah by some people just due to her color and gender, so I feel sorry for her.

Don't even get me started about that New Yorker cover last week. I was incensed by that, whether it was supposed to be a parody or not. It failed because it was not funny or ironic. I thought it was as if a magazine in the 60s had depicted Obama as a shoeshine boy eating a watermelon, while Michelle was dressed like Aunt Jemima. The New Yorker would never have done that back then, so why play up the "new" racism of today? We don't need an elitist magazine to show us what racism is - why don't they make fun of the racists instead?

I believe that the spouses of Presidential candidates shouldn't really matter as much as they seem to. We are not electing them, after all. Nancy Reagan used to bug the life out of me when she spent thousands of dollars on new china for the White House, but in the scheme of things, none of that really matters now. People used to say snide things about Roslyn Carter, too, because she wasn't such a public figure. I think she just wanted to be a Mom and finish raising her daughter, so she was trying to keep things normal.

I remember when Bill Clinton was first elected and people kept saying catty things about Hillary's hair and clothes - I thought that was horrible and I still do.

I think there is reverse racism. I think Michelle Obama has some issues with white people, that's for sure. Since I've never walked a mile in her shoes, I'm not going to judge her. But I hope that she will realize while travelling all over the country that racism exists everywhere - even in her own Chicago - but that open-minded people also exist everywhere.

[cynodd]

I thought it was as if a magazine in the 60s had depicted Obama as a shoeshine boy eating a watermelon, while Michelle was dressed like Aunt Jemima. The New Yorker would never have done that back then, so why play up the "new" racism of today?

Well said!

We don't need an elitist magazine to show us what racism is

But perhaps some do (although if they need it, they may well misunderstand satire). I'm frustrated both by the fact that the Muslim stuff keeps getting thrown at Obama, and by the fact that he just keeps reiterating that he's a Christian (as does the media, and everyone, etc.). There needs to be more pointing out of how this is not just a simple mix-up of his name, it's racist, zenophobic, and anti-Muslim, as well.

I think Michelle Obama has some issues with white people, that's for sure.

That's what I instinctively feel, yet I couldn't find anything to point to in order to justify my feelings. Is there proof to that effect, or is it just my bias or my intuition?