Michelle Obama, dissembler
Her remarks Wednesday were not a clarification of her remarks Monday, but rather a disingenuous recasting of them:
Michelle Obama said Wednesday she has always loved America, seeking to quell the firestorm over her comment earlier in the week that seemed to suggest she is only now proud to be an American.
“What I was clearly talking about is that I am proud in how Americans are engaging in the political process,” Michelle Obama told CNN affiliate WJAR after a campaign event in Providence, Rhode Island.
Uh, no. Here’s what she said when she was telling the truth about her feelings:
On Monday, Michelle Obama told the crowd at a campaign event that “for the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback … not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.” (Emphasis added.)
As Ed Morrissey notes, “That’s simply not a parsable message:”
How can one live as an adult and not take great pride in [our country’s] accomplishments? One has to start from a perspective that sees America as a malevolent force, a viewpoint typical of the hard Left. No matter what good America does, they see the nation as shameful because of its lack of perfection. And they want to gain power so that they can impose the solutions for these perceived imperfections in a top-down, autocratic manner.
Barack Obama knows that he has to push back against this comment, not because Michelle Obama got misunderstood, but because it reveals so much about the Obamas.
Indeed it does. Again, Michelle Obama:
Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.
Message: Your life is not your own. You are the property of the state.