Letting Them Eat Cake

I saw a poll today that reported that around a quarter of the population disapproves of Michelle Obama. That seems high to me for a first lady, since these women are not usually (except for Hillary Clinton whose participation in making policy put her in a different light) figures of controversy. I can think of a few possible reasons for this level of disapproval starting with some people’s  objection to  Mrs. Obama’s extravagant, taxpayer funded  lifestyle during bad economic times. Also  it seems likely that some people might be annoyed by her hectoring the country over what she feels people should be eating and not eating, particularly if they  believe that there are some aspects of one’s life that are simply not the government’s business.  

There is, however, something more important, something best displayed by her infamous remark that she became proud of her country for the first time when her husband became a serious presidential candidate. One could understand, though still not approve of, such a remark from a black person of a different background who had experienced hindering racial prejudice in his life or career. However this woman has spent her life in the special, affirmative action and “diversity” worlds of academia and Democratic Party politics where her mediocre would be treated as excellent and she would encounter direct, overt racial discrimination in her favor. For such a literally privileged character as she has been to say something like that is difficult to excuse and seems to reveal both a sense of resentment and a sense of entitlement of enormous proportion. One gets the feeling that she does not feel any gratitude to the American people for putting her where she is or any responsibility to the nation to represent it well because she thinks she had it all coming  anyway, and she’s going to do just as she likes, and no one had better question it. It is that, more than the vulgar opulence or the grating carping,  that is the most bothersome. She seems to demean her position by seeming not to appreciate it. There are reasons for all those caricatures with her head photo shopped onto Marie Antoinette’s body.