Where is the Decorum?
By pm317 on March 15, 2009 at 1:45 PM in Current Affairs
Secretary Clinton (no, I DON”T love saying that, I wanted and voted to say President Clinton) honored eight international women on Wednesday for their courage in upholding human rights in their countries. Here is the video of the event (and transcript here):
Hillary Clinton appropriately (there is no other way with Hillary) invited Michelle Obama to the event and graciously introduced her to the assembled guests. When it was her turn to speak what does Michelle Obama say? Catch it in the video — she starts by saying “Let me thank SECRETARY Clinton, I love saying that…..” enunciating the word Secretary. Why say this in such an obvious manner?
Now, I don’t know what you think of it. But to me it sounded inappropriate. Michelle had to have known that it was a loaded thing to say having gone through a campaign where the Democratic party unfairly denied Hillary the nomination using all kinds of shenanigans. So was it her intention to underline the fact that Hillary is now Secretary Clinton and not President Clinton? The irony of it all was that she was at an event celebrating women and she chose to say that she was happy about a woman who should have been President being downgraded to Secretary of State. Granted that she wanted her husband to win but let us also note that she had a choice to not get into all of this at that event.
The whole event was surreal — the forever gracious host, the clueless guest of honor, and the spoken words celebrating women ringing hollow in the wake of the most sexist primary campaign. Here we are honoring women for their courage and who is hosting the event? A woman who was denied her historic run and win by the party and media bigwigs against the will of the people. Who is the guest of honor? The woman who previously had nothing of value to say about the host of the event let alone recognize the historic and momentous nature of her presidential run. The fact that Michelle had made comments about Hillary that were beneath her during the primary campaign put the spotlight right on her. She should have known to be extra gracious and highly serious about her part in this event and she failed. She ended up making an idiotic comment right at the start unworthy of her role as the First Lady.
And then there is this picture from the event which looks wrong in so many ways.
My friend wbboei at Hillary Is 44 had this to say about Michelle’s infamous remark:
“We the people have a right to expect a certain level of decorum from someone who presumes to serve in the august role of First Lady of the United States. We do not expect them to be talking trash about senior cabinet officials in a public ceremony. Such behavior is bizarre, catty and dysfunctional. It ill serves the nation and the presidency.”
This comment triggered a series of thoughts I have been mulling over for a while now. To me the Obamas appear to be two people propelled into the national and international scene prematurely. Remember how they ran off to a school during the first couple of weeks of their stay in the WH and made those ridiculous comments? There is a lack of seriousness in both their approach to the roles they are obligated to play, maybe out of ignorance but definitely due in large part to arrogance. He is floundering at the monumental responsibilities of a president during a difficult time and she does not seem to understand her role and the power and privilege that go with it. She seems to reduce everything to making a paltry statement, like with her sleeveless dresses in the dead of winter. She could pick up any number of worthy causes and lend her voice to those who need help if she is serious about making statements. Michelle Obama is yet to understand that when she speaks the world will listen. When she does, she had better say the right thing and look right on camera, because the world is watching.























