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Michelle Obama: Puppetmaster?

By Pat Racimora on May 25, 2008 at 5:42 PM in Barack Obama, Chicago politics, Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is a brilliant woman with a striking and commanding appearance. So, why does she scare the hell out of me when I imagine her as our nation’s First Lady? My cartoon tries to say it all.

My first vague feeling of discomfort occurred when Michelle Obama and her husband appeared on 60 minutes (Feb., 2007). She said, “I hate it. That’s why he doesn’t do it anymore…I’m the one who outed him on the smoking. That was one of my prerequisites for, you know, entering this race, is that, you know, he couldn’t be a smoking president.” Then, we viewers were deputized to contact her if we caught Barack smoking. Whereas I applaud anyone who is supporting a partner to conquer a tobacco addiction, her demeanor on national TV came off as unnervingly controlling.

Then, when I read the article in Glamour Magazine (Feb., 2007), Michelle Obama told us more than we really needed to know. She stated, “We have this ritual in the morning. They [their two girls] come in my bed, and if Dad isn’t there—because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him.” She also complained that he doesn’t pick up his socks. In a public forum such revelations came off as infantilizing the man seeking to lead our country.

But maybe this was just about sharing family anecdotes and I was overreacting.

The kicker that jolted me back to my orginal perception of Michelle Obama, however, came upon reading the transcript of an interveiw with Monica Langley of the Wall Street Journal in February, 2008. Langley writes, “On a conference call to prepare for a recent debate, Barack Obama brainstormed with his top advisers on the fine points of his positions. Michelle Obama had dialed in to listen, but finally couldn’t stay silent any longer. ‘Barack,’ she interjected, ‘Feel — don’t think!’ Telling her husband his ‘over-thinking’ during past debates had tripped him up with rival Hillary Clinton, she said: ‘Don’t get caught in the weeds. Be visceral. Use your heart — and your head.’ The campaign veterans shut up. They knew that Mrs. Obama’s opinion and advice mattered more to their candidate than anything they could say.” Langley adds, “Mr. Obama, in a speech after a primary, called his wife ‘the love of my life and the rock of the Obama family.’ But in a candid moment last March, he told a crowd: ‘She’s too smart to run. It is true my wife is smarter, better looking. She’s a little meaner than I am.’”

I also had to take a hard look at how Mrs. Obama appears to have exploited her husband’s political ascendance to her own benefit. Her sudden salary increase at the University of Chicago Hospitals, the funds her husband earmarked for her employer as US Senator, and the appointment to the board of Tree House Foods, a WAL-MART ally, after her husband was elected to the US Senate appear to be no coincidence, especially as Michelle did not have any experience in the private sector before she assumed the sinecure at Tree House.

When I see the two being interviewed together, she in the one who comes off as totally in charge. Obama seems like he just shrunk a few inches in her presence, and his persona feels diminished. The First Lady can be far more than a figurehead, and Michelle Obama is only within the last year really proud of our country. The question now becomes, what would she do in her role as First Lady, especially if her husband’s will is subordinated to her own?

———————————

No Quarter dossier on Michelle Obama:

satin.sheets.feminist

You did a great job of rendering all her plastic surgery. She definitely had a different appearance just four years ago.
Donkey Brazziere

She has her hand shoved right up his A$$.

And he is smiling. ewww

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Hey Donkey I just ate!

What happed to poor Fosy? Did his mommy send him to bed without supper again? And what about the other regular trolls? Most seem to have vanished yet here we are still standing tall with our next president Hillary Clinton.

You trolls show no real commitment to your candidate.

And that new troll Trekkie is an affront to Star Trek fans. Mr. Spock would find Trekkie’s support of Obama most illogical and peculiar.

http://Fosbachsuckshisthumb.com Fosbach’s Mommy

I think barky has a tractor beam on his brain.
http://www.Fosbachwetshisbed.com Fosbach’s Mommy

Me thinks barky put a tractor beam on his brain.
And yes Fossy is in bed.

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

He doesn’t respect women. Whatever role she plays in that is not my problem. My problem is he thinks he thinks he can take it out the the rest of America’s women and he thinks he should be president, thus allowing him to continue setting gender relations backwards by thirty years.

I can’t think of one woman I know who sees her as a role model. She’s the woman at work who makes men hate all of us. And he’s the mediocre male boss who collects bright women hires to make him look good. Later when it comes time for raises, he takes it all for himself.

Two foul people who instigate hatred. They can have each other. I’ll have none of either of them.

beebop

She is his black identity.

She IS African American, where he IS his inner cracker. She is the connection with Uncle Jerry. It would not surprise me to discover that she is the one who led him there. She is the connection with Chicago politics via her Daddy …. Without Michelle, Barack is even more confused about who he is. This may be why when he is travelling so much and is without her, he is listeless and lifeless. She is the life force ….
nene

Yeah, I agree.

At the same time, I have mixed feelings: should we use the words of the wife to bring down the candidate?

Since the media have done it before,with Hillary, OK. Let’s do it. Fair is fair.

Brendy

Comment by nene | 2008-05-25 20:44:23

Yeah, I agree.

At the same time, I have mixed feelings: should we use the words of the wife to bring down the candidate?

Since the media have done it before,with Hillary, OK. Let’s do it. Fair is fair.

**
They’re taken the HUSBAND’S comments (Bill) out of context and used them to smear Hillary. So, YES, whatever words the wife says should be displayed, disected and vilified 24/7.

secularhumanizinevoluter

Got the mouth all wrong, she has more of a tight lipped just smelled something(probably some garlic nosed whitey) or just sucked on a lemon. This guy is so pu**ywhipped it ain’t EVEN funny. I wait with evil anticipation the onslaught od GOP attack dawgs along with the corporate turning faster then an Cobra and tearing his pathetically out of his league ass UP if they manage to con their way into the nomination. GAWD I’d pay good money to have a camera shot of their faces the first time the whitey tape airs! Like the commercial… Buying and stealing a nomination? 237 million dollars. The look on obamalamadingdong and Mrs. Dong at the first airing of her whitey video by the GOP? PRICELESS!!

so saddened

lol!

the madison avenue candidate will be undone by madison avenue.

hillary or mccain. no other option.
http://thehorizontalworld.blogspot.com/ Medusa

Sugar calls her “old scoop mouth.” Read this post.

http://sugarnspice.typepad.com/sugar_n_spicea_meeting_pl/2008/05/michelle-oballb.html

I loved your description yesterday, secular, that she could curdle milk at 50 ft and through a lead shield!

Can you imagine having her as your boss? Talk about oppression….

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

Oh God I just love Sugar.

Tricia

I am sorry to say that I did not like her from the 2004 Dem Convention when she introduced Obama as her Babies Daddy. This could be the Firts Lady OMG

Mandelay

She won’t be the first lady if you don’t vote for her, I mean, him.

Tricia

I am not voting for HIM/HER I am voting for Hillary no matter what.

Betty

I haven’t read much about Michelle’s dad being part of the corrupt Chicago machine.
Is it far from the realm of possibility that Michelle spotted Obama early on as a vehicle for her own ambitions? Does any one know when they first met? In college? In church?

so saddened

or that he spotted her as the one who could connect him with the machine he needed to make his dreams come true, without having to actually earn them?
http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity Woman

I suspect Bernardine Dohrn introduced them. Michelle and Bernardine worked in the same firm, right? A match made in heaven by a saint.
LOU

Her father was given an engineer positon with the city of Chicago Water bureau by an insider. There may be some connection there. He made triple of what the normal wage across America was at that time.
Room 101

They met at a law firm in Chicago. He was doing a Summer internship, and she was employed there. I believe it was Sidley Austin.

Michelle’s dad was a precint boss in Chicago, and was politically connected.

Mary

Not to mention that she got a job working in Mayor Daley’s office…..clear connections to where Obama wanted to be, and support that helped him work the Chicago political machine.

He represents nothing “new.”

MotherinKY

She also frightens me. Yes, she is evil.
JohnnyB

Another great cartoon, Pat Your commentary and cartoon is right on point. Yes, I agree, she even drags him around by the arm when they are on stage together “come here, go there” and he follows.

Her comments about him make him out to be a buffoon. And he is smoking again, as has been reported by some of the press staff that follow him around. I guess he will be spanked tonight before bedtime.

As for her new positions after Ob became a US Senator, well, that’s the NEW POLITICS he’s been talking about. “Change”, lots of it piled high and in their bank account. Nothing new except slogans given to him by Axelrod who used them with Palmer, and I see that Odinga has used the same words when he was running for Pres. of Kenya. Did Dick Morris have anything to do with that? He worked Pro Bono for Odinga. Maybe Michelle had something to do with that?

southsider

We know Michelle used Reverend Wright’s name when she introduced herself to voters in South Carolina. We also know about her thesis. Perhaps she introduced Obama to the Black Value System and other radical ideas of Reverend Wright and Farrakhan.

http://Reddragon62.blogspot.com/ RedDragon62

The woman is a Phirrahna

http://www.stop-obama.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/pirhana.jpg

Take a look at this and tell me they don’t look alike
libby

Another reason why Hillary is the best candidate for President we have:

Hillary receives 319 electoral votes compared to McCain’s 202.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Clinton/Maps/May25.html

Obama and McCain are both struggling to reach 270 electoral votes:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Obama/Maps/May25.html

Now why is it that the DNC wants Obama so bad instead of Hillary who is proven to win???

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Now why is it that the DNC wants Obama so bad instead of Hillary who is proven to win???

Keep the pressure up on the DNC. Their fund raising has plummeted. First step is to get full seating of FL/MI. Keep up the calls and emails! Money talks.
candymarl

I think the Democrats see Obama as someone they can control. He’s young, inexperienced, and new to the ways of DC. They know they could never control Hillary. Frankly, I think she scares them.

Linda

I suspect they see him as for sale. He certainly seemed to be when he was an Illinois State Senator. He will do whatever anybody wants as long as he gets paid. I hope everybody reads Evelyn Pringle’s articles about him.

LOU

Two words. Wall street.
Also, his campaign is being funded by all sorts of big financial corporations. City of London is a big one.
They are backing Obama. The banks are backing Obama. If he loses they will not get what they want. So they try to push Hillary out with all sorts of threats. Maybe she received death threats. Maybe she was actually relating personally to Bobby Kennedy. Maybe they thought she’d tell the press she had threats when she was mentioning Bobby Kennedy. So they made all that noise and stink about her saying she wanted Obama killed-when really it was she who was the one who was threatened. It was to shut her up???
The way things have gone with this election, the foreign control on it and all, she fights on to save America from losing it’s sovereignty. She mentions sometimes how America sold off to other countries and it’s not the America she grew up in. Obama is a pawn. Michelle references “my bed” “he don’t make HIS BED”
They do not share the same room or bed. Then the stories about his secret life of being bi and sleeping with all those men…all this is in our faces, right in our living rooms..we got troubles alright..collapsing economy and all. AND THIS PAIR IN OR FACES. NO NO NO.

LOU

she meaning Hillary

Mary

Because Al Sharpton has publicly—in the media—said that if the DNC “steals” the nomination from Obama, he and his “peeps” will riot at the convention.

THAT’s why.

gibsonite

Obama dumped Larry for that?

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

You’re just jealous because he didn’t call you after that one night.

wry

i think he meant Sinclair – not Johnson

outlawales

she’s a fucking bitch

Linda C.

Look I won’t put up with people calling Hillary Clinton that..so I am not going to put up with you calling Michelle Obama that either. Say something intelligent or shut the fuck up
Northwest rain

Stop insulting bitches!

Whatever Mrs. Obama is — it isn’t a bitch.

Mrs. Obama is a disgusting, self-centered, racist, hateful, elitist, snob, non-empathetic, cold, black separatist, materialistic, unethical, rich female who happens to also be black.
LOU

Obama is secretly terrified of her. She is a ~~ball~~ soul buster for sure. No Offense. I have a picture of the 2 of them at a recent rally and he looks like he will pee his pants when she is introducing him..this pic is like nothing we normally see of him.

karen for Clinton

Michelle is as scary as him, they fit each other well.
Tricia

I know this is off topic but I just keeping hearing how Obama is going to pick Vice President after primary voting is over.

What if Hillary Picks someone great and drops the name someone that makes the superdelegates job alittle harder.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

The VP stuff is part of their ploy of him being inevitable. Ignore it. Keep fighting for Hillary!

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

He gets Affirmative Action delegates though.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

I appreciate your realism as always but I am sure you agree we keep fighting! Way too much at stake and it would be a huge mistake to assume McCain would beat Obama. We should fight with all our hearts so we don’t have to fight Obama again in the fall. Nip him in the bud now and nominate Hillary!

Brendy

Comment by **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **== | 2008-05-25 21:37:53

I appreciate your realism as always but I am sure you agree we keep fighting! Way too much at stake and it would be a huge mistake to assume McCain would beat Obama. We should fight with all our hearts so we don’t have to fight Obama again in the fall. Nip him in the bud now and nominate Hillary!
**

I hear that HALF (or a large part, anyway) of McCain’s base (the evangelicals and others) are po’d at McCain because he has swayed too far left of right (he’s for amnesty for illegals – course ALL of them are, and other issues) – I think he will have major problems if this group doesn’t come around or McCain doesn’t change his view on immigration, whatever. Therefore, McCain just might easily lose to Obama (if he is the nominee). YIKES!!! GO HILLARY! We’ve ALL got to work hard to STOP an Obomination presidency!

Mary

They’ll come around. They ALWAYS vote.

But this time, they’ll get the Reagan Democrats, too, because Obama and Axelrod have been arrogant and dismissive of what they think is “low-class, uneducated, blue collar racists.”

They did it to themselves, and to the Democratic Party.

Strawberry

I heard a rumour a long time ago on McLaughlin Group that Hilliary was taking Wes (humina,humina,humina) Clark as her VP. God, what a ticket.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Can she announce a preference for VP? Obama announced something, although it was on the level of a preliminary committee and no names were rleased. Since he cracked the door open for political advantage (inevitability) Hillary can walk right through the door if she wants. Maybe Barry will pick Michelle for VP?
Northwest rain

THAT is my ideal ticket.

Wes Clark is as brilliant as Hillary!

wry

Speaking of brilliant, this post started out by calling Michelle Obama brilliant. Has the author(Pat Racimora?) ever listened to her speak?

I wouldn’t call her brilliant. Don’t let the ivy league education fool you. She got in because her 6’8″ brother played basketball.

No, she’s not brilliant…not even close.

Mary

And every job she’s ever had has been due to her connections with the Chicago Daley political machine.

Gimme a break.
http://deleted AnninCa

I agree. She’s actually very mediocre.

LOU

So now Obama wants to ask Wes to be his VP
Obama does everything Hillary does..what a dork.
and Evan Bayh and Rendell..Obama is weird.

http://deleted AnninCa

Don’t you think this is just “balloon floating?”

Why would a Hillary supporter sway voters?

These guys overestimate their influence.

karen for Clinton

off topic: listening to John Bolton on the WABC show which has started off with a bang. They are discussing the Hamas endorsement and how Iran is tied to hamas, nukes right out of the gate.

Too bad it isn’t obama speaking so he could open his mouth and remove all doubt he is not presidential.

The London Times on European concerns about ob blowing away their policies.

Kissenger’s statement of a sumit being grotesque. Obama can’t lie about his statements anymore. He is dangerous.

Foggy bottoms work just got a whole lot harder due to the mistake of a jr. senator from illinois!!!

They have him on the skewer and are barbequeing him for a memorial day feast for Hillary supporters.

Clearly a diplomatic disaster of a candidate.

Larry is coming up now!

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Larry is coming up now!

I just tuned in after he finished. What did he have to say?

I hope Susan will put up the audio ASAP. And next time Larry is going to be on the radio I hope Susan posts an announcement. If Susan did, I apologize as I missed it.

karen for Clinton

“if this was strip poker he’d be naked!” Larry said.

Go Larry!

“he won’t negotiate with Hillary but he will with Iran?!”

Stubborness, naivete – obama.

they must “recognize Israel’s right to exist” not just iran but same thing with venezuela – chavez.

dealing with tyrant thugs is idiocy from the standpoint of diplomacy.

delegates ignoring it all.

The “whitey” video and electability with ominous music playing behind larry speaking.

He’s doing great. there is a pause in the show now for regular news.

tune in online at wabc there is a live stream.

back on now switch topic to McCain.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Thanks for the update!
LOU

Isreal counts on us to help protect their Democracy. A good reason to be on their side.

umm

Who gives a fuck about his wife?

pennsylvaniamother

I do. She took her children to a church where the pastor believes it is appropriate to issue death threats and to pump the altar with his pelvis. This woman is dangerous.

motherinKY

MO is definitely outside of the mainstream. She does not share my values.
jes

She’s into black liberation theology. I guess watching her preacher hump the altar is probably her favorite part of being liberated from whitey.

Mary

Can you see Michelle running the annual White House Easter egg hunt?

Will Pastor Wright give the prayer?

Will he tell the children to “RIDE EM DIRTY!!??”

Strawberry

That’s kind of the point of this diary. Obama is the one up for election but it’s Michelle(YIKES) that might actually run the country?…Uhhhh, hell no.

Linda C.

Didn’t people say the same thing about Hillary Clinton in 1990. I thought you folks were more intelligent than those obama pods on the other side.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

You can’t be this stupid. The First Lady is a very important person America. I certainly give a fuck who she is as do most conscious people.
rjj

He’s running on the cult of personality, not his achievements. Henpecked could tarnish the Charismatic Leader fantasy – though it might get him

1. the sympathy vote of the similarly afflicted, and
2. envy/admiration/identification from another who are into um, er, ah …. dominant women.

rjj

another s/b others above
jes

Well, she seems to have his cajones in a vise. He tries to move, she starts squeezing.

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity Woman

I bet she frothed at the mouth when she saw the Obama Girl videos.

LOU

Probably not. This was his campaign kick-off theme.
She was hired to do that. She didn’t vote for him. she voted for Hillary.

http://deleted AnninCa

I sort of agree, except that she’s tacky. But Cindy gives me a bit of the creeps, too.

They are a wash in my book.

karen for Clinton

the kennedy june non-sense.

“the fix is in for Obama” “blind lemminglike behavior” regarding Michigan and Florida.

She’s got more votes. Back room boys and the powers behind the party are against her.

Women’s vote!!! She’s got it.

page views one million a month women venting!

ha ha, we are tough, smart and committed!!!

Thanks larry!

“McGovern without Brains!” “dude, they don’t speak arabic.” LMAO!

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Larry doesn’t feel too good about the rules committee. But I listened to the audio conference and disagree with Larry. In any case the rules committee can be appealed all the way to the convention. And keep up the pressure on the DNC and prove Larry wrong! The DNC denies the delegates we deny them funding.

bigkitty

Women’s vote!!! She’s got it.

She has every body’s vote, clear across the board.

They’re stealing the election.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

Don’t let them steal the election.

Keep fighting! Never count out the underdog!

LOU

Obama called up Gov Rendell during the PA primary and told him to not crush him too bad because he was promised the nomanation!
http://deleted AnninCa

I agree. They’d rather back a loser than anyone who actually makes them work for their money.

These people are so self-inflated. That doesn’t even bother me, but the lack of principles does bother me a lot.

However, watch a principled politician? And watch that person get booted out.

The public has a huge role in this drama. They buy the crap that Hillary was inciting assasination? They’ll buy most anything, including “weapons of mass destruction.”

It is the bane of Democracy. We don’t control the press. And they never have been particularly interested in truth. It’s all about money.

fred

Was listening to Larry on John Batchelor Show good show
http://Reddragon62.blogspot.com/ RedDragon62

Hey! Was Larry On TV?

karen for Clinton

WABC news radio NYC.

Larry said some great catchy quotes. Really powerful snappy answers with attitude.

Lots of plugs for No Quarter too.

Woweeeeeee. The way he laughed as he was relating how angry we menopausal and pre-menopausal women are about this whole thing said it all… we are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.

The quotes above are from the show, it went by too fast for me to type any more than snippets.

I’m sure it will be up later. Good stuff.

rjj

Larry Johnson referred to menopausal and pre-menopausal women?

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity Woman

Well let’s face it, we’re old enough to recognize a bullshitter when we see one.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

The menopausal and pre-menopausal women was a statement of fact by Larry. I admire how he doesn’t mince words.

Pat

Another great cartoon! I think that it would be really terrible for the country to have her any where near the White House. She definitely runs the show. He is a wimp and I don’t want a wimp as my President. I will vote for Hillary no matter what!!
nancysabet

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The materials are for use by volunteers.
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sarajohns0202@gmail.com
sinking rat-boat

Recently, I heard Obama say he gave up smoking because, “I’m scared of my wife.”

You’re not alone there, Barry.

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

Hey rat-boat, EVERYBODY is scared of his wife!
Donkey Brazziere

I’ll bet he is still smoking.

http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity Woman

Hey Donkey, wouldn’t YOU smoke if you had to live with her?

Ivory Bill Woodpecker

If I had to live with her, I’d “smoke” a gun barrel first!

TeakWoodKite

Pat, is MO a ventriloquist?

Or is an over 40 thing? And where is BO’s leash?

Neat art work!

rjj

And where is BO’s leash?

YES ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Hawkeye2010student

I met her in Iowa City,she is as arrogant as she seems. He and Michelle were the first candidates I got to meet and they were both lofty and arrogant to me, big surprise huh?

Meeting Bill and Hillary was amazing. They were awesome, I got to talk to Bill for 10 minutes in a meeting room at the student union about where our family vacations in Arkansas. Hillary was gorgeous and amazing. I also liked Elizabeth Edwards, very forceful woman. Michelle Obama just comes off as arrogant and controlling, very nice article and illustration.

bigkitty

Michelle Obama just comes off as arrogant and controlling, very nice article and illustration

.

Why, what did she say to you?

Was she condescending?
catriley

Hey Hawkeye!

I appreciate your first-person take on it. It really puts some context to Pat’s original post.

I’m so not surprised about your experience with the Clintons. I’ve known people who have worked closely with them both, and said they’re really warm people. The funny thing I’ve heard from different people is that, though Bill is thought of as being really great with people, Hillary actually outshines him when it comes to personability. I’m one of those silly people that watches the rope lines after events, usually CSPAN keeps the cameras rolling. The one thing I’ve always noticed about Hillary is that she’s NOT one of those people that shakes your hand while looking ahead to the next person. She really connects. “Warm” is the word people use to describe her when they meet her.

Oh.. and you’re so lucky!! I’ve only met George Stephanopoulis and Dick Gephardt and Michael and Kitty Dukakis! (but they were all very very sweet people.)

catriley

I loved Pat’s original post. It manages to paint a good picture of M.O., without going so far that it becomes an attack.

I’ve read things here and there that tell me Pat’s take on M.O. is probably pretty close… but no one is all bad or all good (as I’ve said before, there are people that even love Dick Cheney!)

You all know that I post here regulary, and can mix it up with the trolls… but I’m just not willing to attack a candidate’s wife. I willing bag on trolls and David Axelrove because of their actions — and I njoy doing it.

I’m not going to comment on anyone’s physical appearance (Obama, M.O., McCain, etc.), and I’m not going to get into name-calling of someone’s spouse. No, I’m not saying that to sound like I’m taking the high road in a way to shame my fellow NQ posters, cuz I know emotions are running high.

I just thought I’d like to go on the record about it, as someone that watched Hillary treated that way for 16 years, and have been completely misjudged in my own life. I don’t hate Obama or his wife. I just think he’s make a really really baaad president.

Strawberry

I agree somewhat, but for the fact that she is on the campaign trail for her husband and says some very questionable things. Two that come to mind are the scratching out of Bill Clinton’s eyes and the remark about Hillary not being able to take care of her own house, let alone the White House. Can you imagine the uproar if any other presidential candidate’s spouse said that? She opened herself up to any and all attacks as far as I’m concerned.

Northwest rain

Plus Axlerod seems to use Mrs. Obama to play the race card. She started the whole race garbage in SC.

So she is fair game — and in a way I believe it is a good thing that we look at the spouses as closely as we do the candidates.

President Wilson’s wife became very powerful when he was too ill to carry out his duties.

I believe President Carter’s wife was also an important adviser.

What sort of charity work has Mrs. Obama been PERSONALLY involved in? What projects does she invest her time and energy? These are important questions.

Untilthelastdogdies

I respect your integrity on this subject.

I have mixed feelings about it simply because she delivers campaign speeches in support of her husband and her comments should be open to comment/question.

I find that she doesn’t limit her content to policy alone; hence; she may deserve as good as she sometimes gets.

The comment about “not being able to take care of your own house” in context to Bill’s indiscretions made me feel likenot taking the high road! In the beginning, I really wanted so much to like her, just as I have always liked Hillary.

catriley

I totally agree with you and Strawberry. I have no issue with criticizing her for that stuff she says, because she is totally out there playing a big role in his campaign and she’s really said some inflammatory and nasty things.

I’m not a fan of hers… but it’s more about the attacks on her looks or calling her a bitch, that’s the stuff I see on the internet and it just makes me wince.

ClareA

Thank you for expressing what I am feeling as well. Seeing what Hillary has been subjected to has made me even more sensitive to this kind of treatment directed at any woman.

I have seen too many people dismiss or deny any sexism directed at Hillary Clinton – perhaps in the mistaken belief that this would somehow indicate support for her nomination.

That being said, I don’t have much enthusiasm for Michelle Obama. I get the same kind of feeling I had about Barbara Bush, that us little people are to be humored, tolerated, but not actually respected.

Hawkeye2010student

I met 7 of our candidates with the UDEMS Exec Board (all except Gravel ),and Elizabeth talked for at least 2 minutes with us. John did for 10 minutes. Hillary I met 8 times in Iowa, and she talked with us about Iowa City for 5 minutes. Bill I got to meet the longest, for 10 minutes by myself. Barack was in and out not kidding, handshake and gone. As was Michelle, snobbily looking down on us, and not smiling. Maybe a bad day? Maybe it was the real her, who knows?
Untilthelastdogdies

But in a candid moment last March, he told a crowd: ‘She’s too smart to run. It is true my wife is smarter, better looking. She’s a little meaner than I am.’”

Well, that’s an understatement! In all honesty, perhaps I can now empathize just a tad with Republicans who demonized Hillary when Bill was running for POTUS.

I seem to have a visceral reaction to her that transcends how I normally feel about intelligent, outspoken women. Maybe it was the comment about wanting to scratch Bubba’s eyes out that put me over the edge…I dunnno…

I definitely don’t like her.

jes

It’s her condescending attitude. She acts as if she’s better than everyone else.
wry

I don’t like her for the same reason I don’t like him.They both actively participated in the character assassination of President Clinton in the black community.
I’ll never forgive them for that.

Hawkeye2010student

I suspect it was MO showing through
http://Reddragon62.blogspot.com/ RedDragon62

Your Right Cat…..

But I still think she looks like a piranha

catriley

Yeah.. the resemblance is remarkable! I can say that!

Hawkeye2010student

Normally a handshake and being rushed out is okay, but it wasn’t in Iowa because they had no other places to be and all of them from Dodd to Clinton to Edwards to Richardson all stayed around and chatted,but the obamas didn’t.

mimi

Then how did he win the Iowa Caucus? I thought the whole scenario was about how he went into Iowa and really connected with the voters. This makes me certain then that the Caucus was a fraud. They positioned their people, bullied and cheated. It’s obvious he didn’t connect with anybody.

Yo

Did you also see them on Good Morning America about a week and half ago talking about getting a dog. He way saying how his kids had to learn responsibility before they got a dog, yada, yada, yada and she looked at him and said very emphatically “this spring we’re getting a dog.” She had a tone and look on her face that said “I’ve already decided and you don’t get a say in it.”

Untilthelastdogdies

She does seems to relish directly contradicting him in public… all the while thinking that we’ll see it as typical marital banter.

Every time my husband sees this stuff, he rolls his eyes and says, “Does she think this crap is cute?”
Brendy

Comment by Yo | 2008-05-25 19:23:01

Did you also see them on Good Morning America about a week and half ago talking about getting a dog. He way saying how his kids had to learn responsibility before they got a dog, yada, yada, yada and she looked at him and said very emphatically “this spring we’re getting a dog.” She had a tone and look on her face that said “I’ve already decided and you don’t get a say in it.”
**
I can’t stand Michelle, but I have to agree with her on THIS issue – I’m an animal lover. LOL!

P.S. EVERYBODY needs pets, right?
Clara Barton

Poor dog. Run, puppy, run! I’ll bet its confined to the kitchen in the mansion, not allowed to shed or eat or scratch the floors.

Clara Barton

Guess she controls Barack easily with one hand and scratches Bill’s eyes out with the other. A little Botox might help that permanent scowl but don’t know of a remedy for her soul.
rwc

She’s mean, bigoted and aloof.

With qualities like that who cares what she looks like.

Bad is bad.

mahaska

After 40 you have the face you deserve

catriley

I must have been a very very good person…

katmandu

Did you know that Ms. Obama once said: “we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” as she was quoted in this New Yorker article?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/10/080310fa_fact_collins?currentPage=3

Here’s the full paragraph:

Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”
Don S

Another great cartoon and commentary!! What we don’t need is a weak puppet in the White House being manipulated by a woman who hasn’t been proud to be an American and hates whitey. She is bound to be needling him constantaly to do her bidding. He is afraid to cross her. Let’s hope the delegates will wake up to reality and give the nomination to the only candidate that is electable…Hillary Clinton. If Barack is the nominee, the Repub sharks will eat him alive and bring out all the negative ammunition they are stockpiling and waiting to unleash! With him as the nominee, McCain will win in a landslide!

Keep up the cartoons and well-documented commentary, Pat. They are right on!
juno

MO is an ugly and mean woman who belongs in the ghetto

Nicole

That’s stooping too low. She’s not ugly, she’s actually quite lovely, especially when put together in designer duds. But she does seem to harbor anger and bitterness towards the hoi polloi, and I can’t forgive her meanness towards Hillary.

http://IthinkIfeel... Tricia Spiegel

Pat Racimora is not trying to portray MO as ugly (she is very striking looking) or even as a bad person. Pat raises questions about how she might impact on the presidency in ways that are far different that what was said about Hillary way back when.

MO’s public statements are fair game to look at and to evaluate. But I agree, no need to go any further than the data and position in the original post.
wry

I think she’s stunning from a distance. I wish I had her arms…but when she does that King Kong face and lectures with her finger pointing, I cringe.
I just think she’s nasty, like Barbara Bush is nasty.
And it’s not because I don’t like her husband. I don’t have a problem with Laura Bush and look who she’s married to.

Mary

I think she’s a very bitter, angry woman. I also think she CLINGS to her Black Liberation Theology because it reinforces her desperate need to feel that she’s “better” than other people.

Kind or gracious, she AIN’T.

kcfromtx

What was telling to me about MO was the Oprah interview about a year ago. BO was attempting to tell us how MO keeps him grounded. He said he called her up after some Senate bill all excited about being a sponsor and getting it passed. First words out of her mouth were, we have ants. Said he kept talking about the bill and she didn’t want to hear about any of it, kept telling about the ants and to make sure he got ant spray before he came home. He thought it was humanizing him. It dehumanized her in my mind. She cares about no one or nothing but herself.
Karen

When Obama was running for the Senate here in IL
my husband and I would cringe every time they did an
interview on local television or she would introduce him at a rally. She always had some put down comment to make.
rjj

Michelle Obama: Barack is the only man who can “heal” this nation …

She spoke those words. Did she mean “heel” ????
Blue State Girl

She’s Lady Macbeth. All that ambition will come back to haunt her. After all, who wants a first lady with a 50 ton chip on her shoulder?
One Southern Girl

Off topic but wanted to pass along

AXELROD BUSTED

Obama’s Lobbyist Connection
http://www.newsweek.com/id/138519

Let’s see him weasel out of this one.

morris1030

This is an old story that finally is seeing light of day. MSM has had this story on Exelon, largest provider of nuclear energy tech. in Illinois for a long time. Also, Obama has had votes in US Senate relating to Nuclear Energy that are dicey as well some that HRC voted against; he for, or as ususal absented his vote for political reaasons.

He’s taken lotsa $$$$ from Exelon with David Axelrod’s experience and lobbbying savvy from contacts within Exelon.

Chicago Sun Times has written about this in ’07 along with backpage small story in NYTimes.

Obama has gotten away with smearing “lobbyist” when Axelrod is his lobbyist-in-chief. His larger donors are “bundled” by Penny Pritzker of Chicago Pritzker billions who serves as his Finance Dir. The press is out to lunch on this one.

There are far more stories about Obama’s past that have been overlooked intentionally that reveal dishonesty, greed, calculated voting patterns in Ill. senate, and a perfect Bio of a political opportunist who has buried his ties to Pro Palestine Liberation groups, Ayers, Black Liberation, and a lot of etcetera. The MSM has protected Obama re: MSNBC, NBC, CNN, other cable stations, the Obama Left blogosphere and the Print Media at large.

The fear and laziness on the part of the Media reminds me of how they enabled G.Bush and gave him every pass as they ridiculed and denounced Al Gore.
And then I watched the MSM do the same job on John Kerry.

Let’s hope that Newsweek and Isikoff have broken the silence in bringing light into the shadows surrounding Obama, and that other news media follow suit. ASAP.

Linda C.

Michelle Obama is simply not prepared to be the First Lady. Her husband, more importantly isn’t prepared to be the president. I am trying to imagine Michelle Obama trying to explain to some poor people in South America about how difficult it is to get $10K together for piano lessons.

I don’t mind that she is ambitious..there is nothing wrong with that and I don’t consider it a character flaw.

To be honest, this has been the worst article with the worst comments I have ever read on NQ.

http://IthinkIfeel... Pat Racimora

Gee, that hurts my feelings.

I worked hard to create that cartoon and it represents a sincere concern I have (as do, apparently, others). I pay attention to what is going on, and then things start to jell together and an image comes to me. I research every point I make with legitimate references.

I agree that some of the coments are over the top, but there is passion and anger going on. It’s real.

TeakWoodKite

Pat your work is great, remember you can’t control how people will react to a work of art.

I have always believed that BO was his MO, there is way to please em all. Ask Frank..LOL

MomWhoCares4USA

Linda: I know what you mean. I am a huge Hillary supporter and No Quarter fan… but this article smacks of the same junk thrown at Bill Clinton when he was running for president. They attacked Hillary because she did not fit the silent, supportive first lady mold. Certainly, Michelle Obama does not fit this mold either. The difference between Hillary and Michelle are stark in other ways, though. Hillary, for one, isn’t racist and didn’t take Chelsea to church where the minister railed against people of a different color. Furthermore, Hillary has always been proud of her country and her life record demonstrates her integrity in that regard.

http://IthinkIfeel... Pat Racimora

A potential first lady will always be held up for scrutiny, as she should be. It is folly to believe that the spouse of a President would have no influence whatsoever on the president’s leadership. The question really becomes, what is fair to scrutinize?

I don’t think the article that set up why the cartoon was created is based on junk–it is based on some actual and verifiable (usually with video) information, not on what I think she said or did. Other posters added other similar data. With Hillary, it was always speculative. REALLY big difference.

Mary

Well, the Obamas’ arrogance has CAUSED much of this venom.

Neither of them are “ready” for the White House.

And when I think that if they hadn’t been so arrogant, but had been willing to accept Clinton’s VP slot, earn more experience at the national level for 8 years, and then those of us who are NOT racist would have EAGERLY voted for him after that, giving Democrats 16 years in the White House……..I could just cry.

But because Michelle Obama wanted it NOW, trashed the Clintons to get there, and didn’t give a flip about the party as a whole instead of her own ego……

Then this is not a woman I want as my First Lady.

With all due respect.

apishapa

Are you all not listening??!! Obama said you are not allowed to diss his wife. He will not stand for this!!! Now, dammit (stomps foot) stop picking on his Babymomma. OR ELSE Michelle will talk about what meanies Americans are.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com **== President & Commander-in-Chief Hillary Clinton **==

You mean she will go back to no longer being proud to being an American? Perish the thought!

http://snunes.blogspot.com Susan Nunes

There is no question she calls all the shots. She is everything he’s not but is said to be. She is a better speaker when she isn’t putting her foot in her mouth, she is smarter, and she is definitely more ambitious than he is.

She’s almost as tall as he is, at just a bit under six feet. Barack doesn’t dare protest.
joe_w

Obama is either a wimp or gay in his private life.

Psychodrew

Excuse me? What does being gay have to do with anything?

TeakWoodKite

Nothing Psychodrew, except when you belong to a church that condems being that way, and you say you are “for gay right”, same as the Christian Right BS. And gay people in your church are shot execution style.

llilytoo

When and if they want, the Media can get Michelle to blow like Mount St.Helen. She has not be pushed yet ,hell she hasn’t been even been nudged. Can you see Michelle handling even 12 hours of the kind of the horror show press Hillary has handled for 16 years? No. She’s the Obama time bomb.
Brendy

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/art

Read the below SCARY, dictatorial tone from Michelle:
And unfortunately for Obama and his allegedly sunny politics of hope, what Mrs. Obama seems to say with grim regularity is that America is a scary, bleak, and hopeless place.

Here she is, for instance, in Wisconsin:

“Life for regular folks has gotten worse over the course of my lifetime, through Republican and Democratic administrations. It hasn’t gotten much better.”

And in South Carolina:

America is “just downright mean” and “guided by fear . . . We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day.”

And in North Carolina:

“Folks are struggling like never before . . . When you’re that busy struggling all the time, which most people that you know and I know are, you don’t have time to get to know your neighbor . . . In fact, you feel very alone in your struggle, because you feel that somehow it must be your fault that you’re struggling so hard . . . People are afraid, because when your world’s not right, no matter how hard you work, then you become afraid of everyone and everything, because you don’t know whose fault it is, why you can’t get a handle on life, why you can’t secure a better future for your kids . . . Fear is the worst enemy. It . . . creates this veil of impossibility, and it is hanging over all of our heads.”

There is also her creepily authoritarian vision of life under an Obama administration. From a speech in California:

“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 zone . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual – uninvolved, uninformed.”

Read whole article (stated above) on http://www.boston.com
Might be a good idea to send this link to EVERYONE you know so they can see the REAL Obamas.
Linda

Great cartoon! Perfect. Thank you.
mimi

You all give Michelle too much credit. She’s under the same illusion that everybody else is: that Barack is a nice, but very special guy.

He’s not!

For as cold as you think she is, he’s colder.

For as ambitious as you think she is, his ambition is relentless and ruthless.

He’s been planning this run at the WH for a very LONG time. Before he met Michelle. Yes, Michelle is his AA identity, he chose her for that reason, among others. But make no mistake, she only thinks she’s in charge. That’s why he’s smoking again. And there’s nothing she can do about that. (Big hint there)

He also hates women and so it’s a joke to think he is really scared of her. If he’s scared of anything, it’s that she might find out now. And then all bets would be off for his goal.

If BO becomes president, there will be a private moment in which MO will learn who the real Barack Obama really is. And like the rest of the black community, she will find out that she’s really been had.

http://deleted AnninCa

Agree, Mimi…..she’s just being the best campaign wife she can be.

What I seriously think is missing is any real experience in implementing real programs that help real people.

When I came out of graduate school? Oh boy, theories abounded. I had opinions on everything.

But…trying to build real programs in my community really humbled me a lot.

It’s so simple, and it sure doesn’t require advanced degrees. In fact, I’ve found my own education to be a flaw, not a big help, in real life accomplishments.

But that’s my 2 cents.

She’s OK. She’s just a bit too taken by her own credentials. If she’s smart, and I think she is, she’ll figure it out.

http://deleted AnninCa

I don’t like Michelle strictly because I find her tacky. That’s all. She’s tacky.

But I don’t think she’s evil. I think she’s just in over her head and swimming to stay afloat.

She’ll “season.”

I don’t find her thesis alarming or her ideology or anything. What gripes me? That tacky remark about “you can’t keep your own house clean, you can’t keep the White House clean.” Frankly, nobody with a modicum of commonsense talks trash like that in a national campaign. I mean, come on. You’re being followed by a horde of reporters.

You’re not really talking to just the ladies at the Circle in the local church, for crying out loud.

She’s just a bit too tacky for me. But I sound like my grandmother now, who thought Jackie Kennedy was a whore. LOL* (I think it was the Catholic thingy.)
Chris

Does anyone here feel a bit hypoctitical for the sexist insults flying at MO?

Or is it only sexist when it’s against Hillary? I’m trying to keep up with the ever-changing rules.

http://deleted AnninCa

I agree. It’s a lot harder for me to relate to her. Like I posted. I think she’s tacky. That’s a big, big insult, btw, from me. That means….stupid on your feet.

But I look at Cindy?

Come on…

This is a wash.
Dora Ratquila

I don’t condone any of the sexist and racist messages hurled against Michelle Obama. I may not like her but I thank her for being who she is – and for validating my dislike and non-support to the candidacy of her husband.
MomWhoCares4USA

Chris: Please read my reply to Linda’s comment above.

kat in your hat

Yes, well, this is just one reasosn why I cannot stand MO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1qZMBE9Gc

Disgusting.
http://judithweingarten.blogspot.com judith weingarten

Don’t do this on NQ. We’re outraged with Hillary is pictured like an evil witch. I’m just as angry when you do this to Michelle. It’s not exactly on the level we expect on this site.
http://IthinkIfeel... Pat Racimora

Well, I had no idea as I was struggling with drawing this cartoon likeness and the little article that sets up what went into its its creation that it would set off such a firestorm. I knew it was probably the most potentially sensitive one I have done here, what with our heightened sensitivity to sexist portrayals, which is why I was trying to stick to MO as an individual person about whom I have concerns.

If there is a pony in the s**t pile, it is the realization that feelings do run deeper than many any of us realize about this particular subject. Political cartoons are supposed to push the envelope and evoke strong emotions as well as intellectual responses if they are doing their job.

Alas, I got more of that than I truly expected.

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Truthteller

I commend you for a job well done.

http://IthinkIfeel... Pat Racimora

Thanks, Truthteller!

Retired

Isn’t, after all, Michelle one of the changes that Barack has promised us? To have a bitchy, racist, America-hating first spouse that airs the private aspects of their married life in a most humiliating way? Isn’t humiliation of the President by his or her spouse what we’ve really sought all along?

No president in our country’s history has ever been bold enough to promise this change. But Barack will make it happen, with Michelle’s leadership.

He is the One.

bitter

Yes, all citizens will bow to the Messiah and Her Royal Highness the Queen of Sheba.

First act of Congress the royal couple will ask is to make it a crime to insult The Messiah, and to give $1 billion to the Messiah’s homeland Kenya.

Mary

Naah.

First act by the royal couple will be pardoning all the Chicago political criminals Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating, and then getting Fitzgerald to resign.

Just like they promised all the Chicago pols financing their campaign.

Patriot Forever

I recall reading Michelle Obama’s brother recounting the first time he met Barack. He thought to himself, poor guy he is next on the long list of guys that were eviscerated trying to date his sister.The brother claims his sister was demanding,head strong and tough.
If they are still together,it’s easy to see who gives in to keep the peace.
Lanlan

What a great cartoon. Michelle is arrogant and offensive, not suitable to be First Lady.
http://hyper-educated-uppity-woman.blogspot.com Uppity

Kind of Like Michelle Obama. She’s none of those things either.

And Barky thinks he can take it out on the rest of the women in America.

Not.
so saddened

i am a totally diehard hillary supporter.

and i tend to suspect that she ran the country in the 90s.

and it makes me very happy to know that my candidate is so incredibly capable and experienced.

now what part of the 90s did you not like? the peace or the prosperity?

and don’t give me any crap about a bj. unlike obaby’s supporters, we’re not juveniles and we don’t get all hot and bothered over bill’s bj…from a woman….

hillary or mccain. no other option.