Rick Raw: Attacks on Michelle Obama are Unsubstantiated Right Wing Dirty Tricks

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

When Bill Clinton ran for President, the right wing viciously attacked Hillary saying she was a 60s radical and other outrageous falderal. Bill Clinton’s unprecedented popularity didn’t leave conservatives much ammunition to attack him. So they went after Hillary. After Bill Clinton won and Hillary became involved with reforming health care, she was plummeted by continuous scathing criticism from the right. The chorus of negative cacophony reached a deafening level.

Deja vu all over again. Rush Limbaugh, the ultra-conservatives’ chief blowhard, is leading the Michelle Obama smear campaign, blasting her as an angry black woman who resents white people, hates America, and may have terrorist sympathies. And, it’s going to get uglier as the race for the White House heats up. Fox news anchor E.D. Hill called Michelle’s playful fist bump with Barrack a "terrorist fist jab." More significantly, Limbaugh and his gang of conservative thugs said that Michelle once denounced "Whitey" from her church pulpit.

Of course, the fact that Michelle is an intelligent strong woman who expresses her opinions makes her fair game for attack. Right wing conservatives think that candidates wives should stay in the background and keep their mouths shut. But like Hillary’s past political activities, Michelle is on the stump for her husband and she says what she wants, which rankles conservatives, who look at all women like 50s female sitcom characters.

The reality is, Michelle is her husband’s closest advisor–his intellectual equal. Michelle and Barrack have a truly modern partnership that conservatives envy. She is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School and she had a successful career as a lawyer and hospital manager. When she claims to understand the downtrodden, I believe she is sincere, but she leaves herself open to accusations of being a hypocrite. Some pundits say she is whiner, complaining about the cost of piano lessons and summer camp for her kids, while addressing the concerns of poor blacks who are out of work and desperate.

Yes, Michelle and her husband were bringing in over $500 grand a year, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have compassion and can’t understand the problems of the poor. In other words, her affluence does not necessarily rule out her altruism and sympathy for those who struggle to make ends meet.

However, the truth is–Michelle’s husband’s candidacy is historic and it happens in the arena of down and dirty presidential politics in which dirty tricks and false rumors are rampant. Nonetheless, the Obama campaign managers are trying to soften Michelle’s image. She is now emphasizing her humble roots in a working-class home on the South Side of Chicago. Last week she guest hosted The View, portraying herself as a friendly, accessible wife and mother. Yet, every day, Limbaugh and his colleagues are spreading lies about her. It’s only going to get worse as the campaign reaches its climax near the November elections.

Still, Michelle is troubled by what she sees as the broken American government that only her husband can fix. And many of us agree with her. She may soften this rhetoric in the next months but she has strong views and will express them. She’s not going to stay home and bake cookies. Michelle sees herself as her husband’s political partner. So, I say, her honesty and refusal to be gagged by right wing muckrakers is refreshing and I know that she will help her husband in his difficult job as president. It’s about time we laud strong intelligent women. You go girl!