Q & A

'I Can Only Be Who I Can Be'

Michelle on the 'pluses and minuses' of her potential role as First Lady.

By Richard Wolffe | NEWSWEEK

Feb 25, 2008 Issue

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Discuss

Posted By: Trinia18 @ 06/05/2008 11:43:35 AM

Comment: I???m surprised at the number of miserable, ignorant people in our country. Everything, and I mean everything, that the Obamas have done, said, or participated in has be scrutinized to the point where they are made to seem like villains. Had Barack not chosen to run for president, no one would have cared the less. I don???t think either he or his wife proclaim to be ???perfect???, nor should we hold them to that standard. For who the hell are we!!! Stop freaking complaining and judging these people as if we???ve known them all our lives. We only know of them what the media wants us to know. If you vote for him fine, if you don??? t, that???s fine too. What God has for the Obamas is for the Obamas and no one can stop it. Be blessed.

Katrinia Arnold
Posted By: Trinia18 @ 06/05/2008 11:40:34 AM

Comment: I???m surprised at the number of miserable, ignorant people in our country. Everything, and I mean everything, that the Obamas have done, said, or participated in has be scrutinized to the point where they are made to seem like villains. Had Barack not chosen to run for president, no one would have cared the less. I don???t think either he or his wife proclaim to be ???perfect???, nor should we. Stop freaking complaining and judging these people as if we???ve known them all our lives. We only know of them what the media wants us to know. If you vote for him fine, if you don??? t; that???s fine too. What God has for the Obamas is for the Obamas and no one can stop it.

Be blessed.
Posted By: h2ocleaning52 @ 05/12/2008 1:51:43 AM

Comment: Hi my name is Emma and I am 56 yrs old, I am a mix Puerto Rican my grandfather was black so it has nothing to do with race, but I don???t trust obama and don???t have much respect for his wife.

I am amazed how people can vote for a man who raised his daughters in a church full of hatred and bigotry
This is also the man who only disowned his minister because the minister told the truth about him.
This is the man that is suppose to bring this country together but yet he never spoke up for Florida and Michigan because he new that he would not win them.

I am also amazed that people can vote for a man whose wife has no respect for this country and is displeased and dislikes this country so much and yet she wants to be first lady. I guess all that money spent on an education did not help Michelle because every time she opens her mouth she offends America. If she is that unhappy with us then maybe she should move to Africa where her ancestors came from.

You see I know what we got with Hillary.
With McCain more bush.
With Obama his choices tell it all.

And as for all those people that turned their backs on Hillary because they wanted to jump on the obama bandwagon (like the back stabbing governor of NM he makes me feel a shame that I am a democrate and a Latina) obama is not president yet and there is a group of people, and I mean a lot of people who will vote none of the above or fill in Hillary???s name before making obama president.
Posted By: dollyg13 @ 04/27/2008 7:47:31 PM

Comment: Where has Michelle been lately? She has not been at her husband's side. Was it decided that she has become a liability to Barack like John Kerry's wife Teresa was? Michelle is more intelligent but that makes her more dangerous.
Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:21:15 PM

Comment: Why should her family not be considered working class? She grew up in an apartment on the South side (since someone was so kind as to post her address) What does the fact that she had a mother that stayed home do to disqualify them from being working class. I make 120k and we are working class. When you can't quit your job and maintain your lifestyle, you are working class sweetie.
Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:17:31 PM

Comment: Why should her family not be considered working class? She grew up in an apartment on the South side (since someone was so kind as to post her address) What does the fact that she had a mother that stayed home do to disqualify them from being working class. I make 120k and we are working class. When you can't quit your job and maintain your lifestyle, you are working class sweetie.
Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:17:07 PM

Comment: Why should her family not be considered working class? She grew up in an apartment on the South side (since someone was so kind as to post her address) What does the fact that she had a mother that stayed home do to disqualify them from being working class. I make 120k and we are working class. When you can't quit your job and maintain your lifestyle, you are working class sweetie.
Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 4:51:07 PM

Comment: In response to Cantabrigian, why do I have to care about Michele Obama's thesis? And what about his former housemate? Should I really hold former loves against him? Is this really something that I need to know? Why would I assume that Michele Obama's political connections mean anything for the presidential election? The Obamas appear to be a very loving couple, I really do not care about Michelle Obama's thesis statement. We can discuss his policies and whether or not you agree with them.
Posted By: mynameissue @ 04/26/2008 4:50:04 PM

Comment: to:Cantabrigian You really don't think the press is gonna release Michele Obama's thesis do You? Seem to me the press thinks the obama's are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I prefer to slice my own bread, and nothing they can say or do will get my vote.
Posted By: mynameissue @ 04/26/2008 4:49:55 PM

Comment: to:Cantabrigian You really don't think the press is gonna release Michele Obama's thesis do You? Seem to me the press thinks the obama's are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I prefer to slice my own bread, and nothing they can say or do will get my vote.
Posted By: iowa08 @ 04/26/2008 11:23:24 AM

Comment: I would be honored to have Michelle Obama bercome the First Lady when her husband is elected President in November. I think she will be an excellent ambassador for America around the world. I think she will represent all of America. She has an honesty and strength that will serve us and her in the next 8 years. ( I am a 65 year old white woman from Iowa)
Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:13:44 AM

Comment: Wait until the press releases Michele Obama's thesis. The American public do not know the Obamas. What about Barack Obama's former house mate - the one before he met the more politically connected Michelle?
Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:11:49 AM

Comment: Michelle Obama, a very angry woman who expresses anti-American sentiments that, "life in America is not good, we're a country that is just down right mean . . . We're a country that is guided by fear, We're a nation of cynics, sloths and complacents." This is the couple the Democratic Party think could possibly be elected to live in the White House! I don't think so.
Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:11:04 AM

Comment: This article is one pathetic story. Michelle Obama, is a very angry woman who expresses anti-American sentiments that, "life in America is not good, we're a country that is just down right mean . . . We're a country that is guided by fear, We're a nation of cynics, sloths and complacents." This is the couple the Democratic Party think could possibly be elected to live in the White House! I don't think so.
- Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 16:59:14
  
  Comment: where do you get the idea that Michelle Obama is angry? Is it because she has a serious look about her? I have never heard her say an angry word in any of her statements. And honestly, there are many people who share the sentiment that life in America is not good. You can accept it or not, why lie? Wake up. I believe that her husband can change things and create a better sentiment. And in the last eight years, we have been guided by fear. We have gone to war based on fear, and finance not rationality. The world does see the US as mean, cynical and self righteous. It is time that we called it as it is. We still treat people below a certain income level with indifference. We believe that our children are entitled to disrespect one another, the elderly and their own parents. She is calling it as it is. And by the way, I am not angry. I am simply in agreement with her sentiments.
Posted By: twilso96 @ 04/26/2008 10:50:33 AM

Comment: Nice article with Michelle Obama. I always appreciate her plain speaking and honesty, though more time in politics and Washington are sure to change that.
Posted By: Not stupid in Alabama @ 04/26/2008 12:51:52 AM

Comment: And then there is the big fat raise she got after Barack earmarked millions of dollars for the hospital where she worked.
Posted By: Not stupid in Alabama @ 04/26/2008 12:50:34 AM

Comment: What has Michelle done? Let's see, here's a nice story of how she works with Barack. In a campaign influenced by Walmart, instead of backing the pro-labor candidate, Obama backed a "Walmart tool."

There was little surprising about Obama's endorsement given his self-interested allegiances to the politically powerful City Hall regime of Chicago's Mayor Daley, with whom Obama shares the same big money campaign super-consultant (David Axlerod) and numerous big money sponsors.

For the first time Mayor Daley had vetoed an ordinance by his normally obedient City Council, a measure widely supported by citizens, community organizations, and labor unions in Chicago's black, Latino, and working-class wards, and he did not want the council to bring the measure up again. It was originally passed by the council under pressure from a remarkable grassroots campaign, and would have required giant retail corporations like Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes, and Home Depot to pay workers a modest minimum wage of ten dollars an hour by 2010.

Wal-Mart and Target announced that they were putting a number of "big box" retail developments on hold in Chicago, and launched a preemptive public relations strike, threatening to disinvest in the city unless a "favorable business climate" was restored. Daley made a special point of wrapping his veto in the flag of racial justice, claiming it was required to permit the flowering of economic development in the city's abandoned ghetto neighborhoods.

Pat Dowell, the recipient of significant support from the Service Employees' International Union (SEIU), was running against Tillman, and Dowell had strongly criticized Tillman for siding with Daley and Wal-Mart.

Obama needed the support of the powerful campaign finance magnet Daley, and endorsed Tillman, over labor-backed Dowell.

Obama's wife Michelle then received $51,200 in 2006 for attending a few board meetings of TreeHouse Foods, a giant firm that relied heavily on its close business relationship with Wal-Mart. The granting of high-pay/do-little board posts to the spouses of politicians is a longstanding tool of the "old," corporate-dominated politics that Senator Obama claims to reject. This is not like Clinton's placement on the board of Walmart as the result of an effort to address sex discrimination in Walmart's employment practices.

Mrs. Obama resigned from her position with TreeHouse in the summer of 2007, citing "increased demands on her time" in connection with her husband's presidential campaign.

It isn't surprising that she cut her politically damaging ties to a notoriously anti-labor company that her husband was attacking Clinton about in his speeches. I mean, how would it look for the pot to be calling the kettle black?
Posted By: Dartay @ 04/25/2008 9:34:05 AM

Comment: OK, I didn't really get a jist of her talking much about First Ladies here as the title suggests. I don't trust Michelle Obama. Her Senior thesis is racial, her "proud" comment was a slap in the face to most Americans. It sounds like she is trying to suck up now,talk about doing anything to be Presidential! EVEN she admits, Obama doesn't have any experience, that is why he is wearing his emotion about hope and dreams on his sleeve.!
Posted By: Makuleku @ 04/24/2008 11:43:16 PM

Comment: Barack Obama is the best thing that happened to the USA since the Declatation of Independence !!!. He is reminding us that the good essential values of humanity are not forgotten !!! Contrary to the Clinton's strategy of insult and desperate dirty campaign tatics, denouncing an obvious frustration, he brings us the hope, honesty, competence and clear conscience that we need to rebuild our great nation and its universal credibility..
Posted By: GoGirl @ 04/24/2008 3:44:03 PM

Comment: I am wondering how old Billymyers is. The US in 1985 was, regretably, a world in which a black couple seeking to rent an apartment was told that their application qualified them, but "I just can't rent to black people." That a school advisor would tell a young black girl that she should take general education math rather than algebra, even though she was college-bound, because she would be "more comfortable." Etc. Personal experiences. Many white people then did as the rest of the bandwagon did, both accepting and practicing racism with no bad consequences to themselves. Don't judge her on negative comments made in 1985.
Posted By: Billymyers @ 03/29/2008 10:38:02 AM

Comment: Is any of this true???????????????????
In her senior thesis at Princeton, Michele Obama, the wife of Barack Obama stated that America was a nation founded on ???crime and hatred???. Moreover, she stated that whites in America were ???ineradicably racist???. The 1985 thesis, titled 'Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community' was written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson.
Michelle Obama stated in her thesis that to 'Whites at Princeton , it often seems as if, to them, she will always be Black first...' However, it was reported by a fellow black classmate, ???If those 'Whites at Princeton ' really saw Michelle as one who always would 'be Black first,' it seems that she gave them that impression???.
Most alarming is Michele Obama???s use of the terms ???separationist??? and ???integrationist??? when describing the views of black people.
Mrs. Obama clearly identifies herself with a ???separationist??? view of race.
???By actually working with the Black lower class or within their communities as a result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desperation of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an integrationist who is ignorant to their plight.???
Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her 'further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant.'
- Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 17:08:24
  
  Comment: Sir, did you get the memo? America was built on the backs of Native Americans and the slave trade. Stealing the land of others today would be considered a crime. And lets face it, we are sometimes racist in our beliefs. Moreover, during the time that she was attending Princeton, there were still Universities that practiced discrimination. She may have felt that way, BACK IN 1985. You have to put things in context. Unfortunately, there are those that see African Americans as Black first and require qualification of their opinions by the majority. Lets be real
Posted By: Vote4Prosperity @ 03/06/2008 11:04:20 PM

Comment: Not real direct answers...Why was she not asked what she meant with all the comments leading to racism in her thesis. I am very confused about her and
deffinately know that I would not vote for Obama this time around! WE need to know more about who we are going to put in the most powerful position of our country! We are vulnerable now and need be sure who will take that powerful seat, Our nation is at stake!
Posted By: dirtybutclean @ 02/26/2008 5:07:15 AM

Comment: I haven't exactly understood where she's getting at after all these supposed answers.
Posted By: politics12 @ 02/24/2008 9:34:53 AM

Comment: "I was raised in a working-class family on the south Side of Chicago. That's how I identify myself, a working-class girl," Michelle Obama standard line in stump speeches.

Michelle Robinson Obama is a vocal and valuable asset to her husband's campaign for the Democratic nomination. Or is she? Aside from her remarks on her lack of pride in being an American, Mrs. Obama has been less than truthful in her depiction of her early years.

Michelle Robinson Obama claims to have grown up in 'a one bedroom tenement on Chicago's south side'. This does not square with the facts of her Father's US$42000 plus a year salary in the late 1960's-80's (More than US$150000 in today's dollars) as a senior engineer with Chicago Water or the gracious first floor 4 bedroom apartment at 7436 Euclid Avenue, Chicago in which she was raised--an area of spacious homes in tree-lined garden streets. Nor with the fact that Mrs. Robinson did not work but spent her time ensuring that her son and daughter had the best that could be offered to comfortably middle class children--the magnet school for gifted children, home-cooked nightly family dinners, music lessons, sports and vacations that were all taken for granted by the young Michelle.

It is sad that for political gain, Michelle Obama is less than accurate about her background and less than proud about her father's achievements in providing so well for his family.
- Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 17:13:29
  
  Comment: Is that not on the Southside? And 42k was not rich. Anyone else would have considered that working class. Is it because of her race that her parents weren't entitled to live as comfortably through hard work as others that would consider themselves working class?
Posted By: sspeck @ 02/22/2008 12:13:18 PM

Comment: I would like to know what Mrs Obama meant by " I would like to find some reason to be proud of my country" If she is not proud of our country, then the White House is not where she should be. And that places a bad light on Barack Obama as well, and maybe the presidency is not where he should be.
Posted By: Tired of Media Spin @ 02/21/2008 2:20:23 AM

Comment: Not impressed.
Posted By: Dena Silver @ 02/20/2008 12:01:34 PM

Comment: Mrs. Obama has made many important points but two stand out. First, she pointed out to the media the tendency to publicize half-sentences that misrepresent the full statements of an interviewee.
Second, her concern for her daughters' emotional well-being, which should be the priority of every mother.
This has been important to other first ladies, however in this, she'll be the quintessential first lady.
Posted By: Mary Frances @ 02/20/2008 11:31:26 AM

Comment: AL? AL WHO?
Posted By: Mary Frances @ 02/20/2008 11:30:34 AM

Comment: Al who?
Posted By: Tired of Media Spin @ 02/19/2008 8:22:06 AM

Comment: She has some big problems. I would not want her as a first lady. She is "angry".
Posted By: tnc77 @ 02/16/2008 6:31:28 PM

Comment: Al,
I'm not sure that I understand your comment on this article. I believe that what Mrs. Obama was trying to say is that she cannot fill someone else's shoes because she is her own person. Why should she choose to emulate another woman when she has shown that she is successful professional and loving mother in her own right? In addition, I don't appreciate your comment about being a liberal. It implies that liberals are not educated and aware of the world. I happen to believe that liberals are more aware of the world and how our (the US) actions effect others in it more so than conservatives. I'm not ashamed to be a "bleeding heart" at least I can say that I have one.
Posted By: tnc77 @ 02/16/2008 6:29:48 PM

Comment: Al,
I'm not sure that I understand your comment on this article. I believe that what Mrs. Obama was trying to say is that she cannot fill someone else's shoes because she is her own person. Why should she choose to emulate another woman when she has shown that she is successful professional and loving mother in her own right? In addition, I don't appreciate your comment about being a liberal. It implies that liberals are not educated and aware of the world. I happen to believe that liberals are more aware of the world and how our (the US) actions effect others in it more so than conservatives. I'm not ashamed to be a "bleeding heart" at least I can say that I have one.
Posted By: AdirondackAl @ 02/16/2008 2:46:46 PM

Comment: "I can only be who I can be"--My God lady, you're a Democrat- you can be Wonderwoman one day and cry for your supporters the next. Don't you remember the last election cycle and Al "Who's He Gonna Be Today" Gore? And he won a Pultizer or an Oscar or something- all liberals have to win awards. The Army (as a liberal you're going to have to ask someone what that is) used to have a slogan "Be All That You Can Be". Liberals have a slogan "Fool All The People You Can Fool Today- Tomorrow is another day".
- Posted By: ka kamahele @ 02/19/2008 18:22:45
  
  Comment: I actually enjoy comments like Al's -- there's a certain brute honesty in the misanthropic rantings of some hyperconservative neanderthal. Beyond that, it validates the theory that I have that many conservatives were the same kids in grade school who'd push you down for getting a better grade on a spelling test. The ones who only see the world as how it relates to them. Hearing Al rant makes me that much happier to be a liberal.
  - Posted By: cyberella @ 02/23/2008 15:57:24
    
    Comment: http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm
    
    On the 27th, Raila Odinga, Obama???s cousin, lost the presidential election in Kenya.
    
    Obama and Odinga share the same Luo heritage and history and has made it possible for them to share the same spotlight at this defining moment in Kenyan and American histories about hope and fear.
    
    Raila Odinga, who is Obama???s first cousin, has, in his own words, a ???close personal friendship??? with Obama. When Obama went to Kenya in August of 2006, he was hosted by Raila and spoke in praise of him at several rallies in Nairobi. Obama???s bias for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenya government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila???s ???stooge.???
    
    When Raila Odinga lost the presidential election to Mwai Kibaki, he claimed the vote was rigged, whereupon his tribal followers went on murderous rampages, such as in the town of Eldoret, where on New Years Day dozens of Christians were burned to death in a church set on fire. Throughout Kenya, hundreds of people have been politically murdered in the last few days.
    
    Islam had picked Raila to win.
    
    The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya has posted on its website a photograph copy of a Memorandum of Understanding, dated and signed on August 29, 2007, between Raila Odinga and Shiekh Abdullah Abdi, chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum of Kenya.
    
    Here is a summary on the agreement which was signed:
    
    * It pledges the support of Kenyan Moslems for Raila???s election. In return, as President of Kenya, Raila agrees to 14 actions, listed a) through n) on page two.
    
    * Within 6 months re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions.
    
    * Within one year facilitate the establishment of a Shariah court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters. [Note: everywhere in Kenya, not just in ???Muslim declared regions.???]
    
    * Popularize Islam, the only true religion??? by ordering every primary school in Kenya in the regions to conduct daily Madrassa classes.
    
    * Impose a total ban on open-air gospel crusades by worshippers of the cross???
    
    * Outlaw gospel programs??? on KBC, the National Broadcaster.
    
    * Impose a total ban on the public consumption of alcoholic beverages???
    
    * Impose an immediate ban on women???s public dressing styles that are considered immoral and offensive to the Muslim faith???
    
    http://eakenya.org/newsevents/article.htm?id=8
    
    Well, there you have it. Obama told us in 'Audacity of Hope' that he would "stand with the Muslims'.
    
    What would he do as president? How many countries would he assist to fall to Islam? Mass migration of radical Islamics to the U.S? You can count on it. Billions and billions to Africa? You can count on it!
    
    http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm
    
    http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/

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'I Can Only Be Who I Can Be'

Discuss

Posted By: Trinia18 @ 06/05/2008 11:43:35 AM

Posted By: Trinia18 @ 06/05/2008 11:40:34 AM

Posted By: h2ocleaning52 @ 05/12/2008 1:51:43 AM

Posted By: dollyg13 @ 04/27/2008 7:47:31 PM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:21:15 PM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:17:31 PM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 5:17:07 PM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 4:51:07 PM

Posted By: mynameissue @ 04/26/2008 4:50:04 PM

Posted By: mynameissue @ 04/26/2008 4:49:55 PM

Posted By: iowa08 @ 04/26/2008 11:23:24 AM

Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:13:44 AM

Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:11:49 AM

Posted By: Cantabrigian @ 04/26/2008 11:11:04 AM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 16:59:14

Posted By: twilso96 @ 04/26/2008 10:50:33 AM

Posted By: Not stupid in Alabama @ 04/26/2008 12:51:52 AM

Posted By: Not stupid in Alabama @ 04/26/2008 12:50:34 AM

Posted By: Dartay @ 04/25/2008 9:34:05 AM

Posted By: Makuleku @ 04/24/2008 11:43:16 PM

Posted By: GoGirl @ 04/24/2008 3:44:03 PM

Posted By: Billymyers @ 03/29/2008 10:38:02 AM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 17:08:24

Posted By: Vote4Prosperity @ 03/06/2008 11:04:20 PM

Posted By: dirtybutclean @ 02/26/2008 5:07:15 AM

Posted By: politics12 @ 02/24/2008 9:34:53 AM

Posted By: PAlovesObama @ 04/26/2008 17:13:29

Posted By: sspeck @ 02/22/2008 12:13:18 PM

Posted By: Tired of Media Spin @ 02/21/2008 2:20:23 AM

Posted By: Dena Silver @ 02/20/2008 12:01:34 PM

Posted By: Mary Frances @ 02/20/2008 11:31:26 AM

Posted By: Mary Frances @ 02/20/2008 11:30:34 AM

Posted By: Tired of Media Spin @ 02/19/2008 8:22:06 AM

Posted By: tnc77 @ 02/16/2008 6:31:28 PM

Posted By: tnc77 @ 02/16/2008 6:29:48 PM

Posted By: AdirondackAl @ 02/16/2008 2:46:46 PM

Posted By: ka kamahele @ 02/19/2008 18:22:45

Posted By: cyberella @ 02/23/2008 15:57:24

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