Melania and Michelle: Sisters in the American Dream

It is embarrassing that portions of Melania Trump’s opening night speech repeated not only the themes but the very words spoken by Michelle Obama in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention — not, however, for the reason most would think. (Though you should expect at least one sloppy speechwriter’s head to roll.) No, the real reason the campaign’s public gaffe stings is that it contradicts the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s message that America is a “divided crime scene .”

If the African-American first lady whose journey took her from the South Side of Chicago to Princeton to Harvard Law and the White House and the Slovenian-American immigrant , model/designer and perhaps future first lady have so much in common, that means the Trump candidacy has little reason to exist. We don’t need a “law and order” candidate to get us in shape. Maybe we aren’t at each other’s throats after all.

 

When GOP staffer put Obama children ‘at a bar,’ it continued American tradition of trashing black females’ morality

In keeping with the Christian theme of her self-serving apology, Elizabeth Lauten has blessedly resigned from her post as the communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (R-Tenn.). She had said prayer showed her the error of her ways, though one would think she would not need a higher power to tell her that trashing Malia and Sasha Obama for dress and demeanor at a turkey pardoning was not the best idea.

But tucked into the usual partisan sniping of her original Facebook comments and expected swipes at President Obama and Michelle Obama through their children was something deeply disturbing and unsettling. Her rant against the girls read, “Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar.” Let that sink in. She placed two children ages 13 and 16 in a bar, a very adult setting – a place where you can drink, flirt and, in some cities, smoke.

That’s not frivolous, but insidious. And it’s nothing new. Lauten’s mind traveled back to a disgusting place and time, when black women were disrespected, denied a spot on the pedestal of virtue white women occupied. Those views – apparently alive and well – excused the abuse and disregard of human beings judged not worthy of respect or consideration by people who prayed as hard as Lauten says she does.

Michelle Obama goes ‘Nashville’ – no twang needed

Starring Michelle Obama and Kellie Pickler? Casting the first lady in a television cameo with the country music singer may at first sound odd. But since her appearance on ABC’s “Nashville,” is to support military families, it’s all for a good cause. The setting of the episode, scheduled to broadcast May 7, is Fort Campbell, Ky., where, as part of the third anniversary of their Joining Forces initiative, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden were scheduled to speak Wednesday.

There may be upsides for all: more attention to those who serve and to their families and some buzz for a television show that hasn’t exactly been a breakout hit.

The “Nashville” appearance is also a chance for some curious speculation, and not just because the juxtaposition of a first lady with actors and singers on a scripted nighttime soap is hard to picture.

The country’s first African American first lady is going country, a genre not usually seen as particularly integrated among its practitioners and fans. And she’s doing it in a Southern setting that lives and embraces the music – if not the Obama administration. Although politics is part of it, racial rhetoric can be found in some signs – literal and otherwise — of that rejection.

After ‘Selfie’ at Mandela Service, More Stereotyping of First Lady

Media coverage of the memorial service for Nelson Mandela was inclusive — up to a point. That this one South African had changed minds and changed the world was clear during scenes from the service broadcast around the world.

But when that big story was overwhelmed, then reduced to President Obama’s handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro and first lady Michelle Obama’s reaction to the president’s picture-taking with two other heads of state, it was business as usual.

First in family values? How a White House image could change perceptions

The holiday season, when family relationships, good and bad, move to the forefront, might be just the time to consider how the image of the Obamas in the White House — mother, father, two daughters, grandmother — has affected ideas about the American family in general, and the African American family in particular.

Why We Love Michelle

Michelle Obama is certainly a different kind of First Lady – in style and substance. The moment she appears before a crowd, people reach out to touch her. She shakes hands, leaning in to share a laugh. She is the first African American to occupy the unelected but strategically and symbolically important position, but her special talents have made her influential across the world.

Hair we go again: Michelle Obama’s bangs

The political and diplomatic world shifts, not because of policy but bangs? Sure, it’s silly, and I could be a grump and ask if hair will take away from Michelle Obama’s work for healthy children and military families. But it’s one of the few safe topics to argue over nowadays. It’s cool that the most stylish and glamorous White House couple since the Kennedys is African American.

She the People reacts to the new look.

Michelle Obama, Mariah and company try to close the deal in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Election eve in North Carolina had it all, entertainment, sports and the first lady. In a lineup that included the NBA’s Derek Fisher and diva Mariah Carey in a gown so form-fitting she needed an assist up the stairs to the microphone, it was Michelle Obama who closed the show on Monday as she asked the crowd, “Are we ready to work for this?”

Jill Biden and daughter hit issues checklist in North Carolina stop

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – It was a mother-daughter double team on the day before the last day of early voting in North Carolina. Jill Biden and daughter, Ashley Biden, spoke to an overflow crowd at the Obama campaign office in this town just north of Charlotte on Friday.

More Obama derangement syndrome, this time in racist tweet from Puerto Rican political adviser

In the endless arguments over whether certain criticisms of President Obama are racist, there are cases when the answer is clear. In that category we can place angry, barely coherent tweets by a political adviser in Puerto Rico.

After the president tweeted that first lady Michelle Obama’s birthday was coming up, Heidi Wys, proving that racism and witlessness go hand in hand, tweeted, “Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya!” You’ve got to give it to her. Within the 140-character limit, she gets in a simian reference and a bow to birther-ism.