Is it just me? Is my judgment affected by lingering sexism, or by my antipathy for the Democratic nominee?I've been trying to figure out why I've long felt an instinctive discomfort with Michelle Obama. It comes down to this: In nearly every photo I've ever seen of her, she looks pissed off and contemptuous.
Her smile always seems pasted on, and the paste always seems to have worn thin. Her eyes convey the message: "I'm annoyed and dissatisfied, and it's all YOUR fault." Even when she watched her husband deliver his acceptance speech in that Reifenstahlian stadium, her glower conveyed an overpowering desire to beat up someone, anyone, just because.
Nancy Reagan gave me a similar vibe. Of course, she had once received some training as an actress (not that you'd know it from her movies), so she possessed a greater ability to hide her true feelings. Nancy's pasted-on smile was creepy and unconvincing, but it was also wide and toothy, and she could hold it in place for hours at a time. Michelle flashes her creepy and unconvincing closed-mouth smile for maybe thirty or forty seconds, then decides: "Okay, enough of that shit." Then it's back to the perma-scowl.
I may never grow to like Michelle, but she could prove to be one of the most interesting and complex first ladies in the history of the White House, if her husband wins.
15 comments:
Nope. It's not just you. She's always looks to me like she thinking, "I'm just smiling so all you dumbsh*t's think I care" ever since the first time I saw her.
Have you seen the video of McCain speaking at the Alfred E. Smith memorial? Hilarious!
Kyre
I noticed a similar situation with Condoleeza (sp?) Rice. When she gets upset her face turns very ugly. And then I started to wonder if the black culture - with the way black women have had to take over responsibility for the family - has allowed women to show their anger in ways white women are not allowed to. Just ask a woman how many times some stranger has felt free to tell her to smile.
I actually like Michelle Obama. She has high self-esteem, which is always a good quality in a First Lady, or in anyone for that matter. My initial reaction to her was, "Does that member of the Obama family want to run for president instead?"
I think she comes across as hostile and cold from time to time, like almost everyone who is on camera practically 24-7 is bound to at some point.
But my main impression of her since this whole thing kicked into gear is how afraid she is. She is scared to death for her husband, her children and her family. I saw that fear settle into her in the Larry King interview in which King asked her if she understood why Colin Powell's wife had forbidden him to run for president in 2000. It was heavy on her face during Biden's acceptance speech at the convention (during which she cried a lot, sincerely, I think). My guess is that the fear is where most of the anger and angry outburts originate from. She views any criticism of her husband as a potential threat to the life of the father of her children. Which has lead to the "coldness" I see in her from time to time—she's shutting off most of her emotions in order to get control over the fear, just so she can function.
I feel kinda bad for her, for several reasons, not the least of which is that I no longer suspect she was "in on it" with her husband. I don't think she has a sense of how much of his life and their marriage is a complete sham. So, I think she's about to receive a very rude awakening.
Also, damn, their kids are cute. That has nothing to with my thoughts about their parents, but I like to point it out where I can. Malia looks like Barack and Sasha looks like Michelle. Adorable.
What has Obama ever done that would make him a target? The idea that he would be attacked just for being black makes no sense, since NO African American politician has been attacked much less hurt to date. On the other hand, when you do bad things to other people, it is natural to feel like they might want to take reprisals against you. Who has Obama hurt? It goes with having a guilty conscience. If Michelle is truly that fearful, she should see a shrink, not hire a bodyguard -- oh, wait, she already has some of those.
Obama raised 100 million in September, how much have you raised Gollum?
The huge TV and other media, campaign expenditure gap has been made possible by Mr. Obama’s decision to opt out of the federal campaign finance system, which gives presidential nominees $84 million in public money and prohibits them from spending any amount above that from their party convention to Election Day. Mr. McCain is participating in the system. Mr. Obama, who at one point promised to participate in it as well, is expected to announce in the next few days that he raised more than $100 million in September, a figure that would shatter fund-raising records.
Michelle is sharp, much smarter than her husband, but she has a "keep with with the Joneses" attitude. I am always reminded of her appearance in Reno last August where she kept talking about her husband having gone to the "best schools" and he was "the best of the best" because he was a figurehead at the Harvard Law Review. Michelle has a more modest background than her husband. She's fairly transparent in her desire to be one of the elites.
Hubby rarely comments on this campaign. After the debate the other night, when Michelle came onstage, he turned to me and said, "Michell is one d@mn cold fish."
"...since NO African American politician has been attacked much less hurt to date."
A cynical observer (Who? Me?) might wonder if the confrontation between Cynthia McKinney and the Security Guard was staged. Also whether Congressman William Jefferson was "set up." Even if not, the way the Main Stream Media widely publicized the events could be construed as "attacks." Forget where I first read something to the tune of, "You don't necessarily have to kill someone in order to assassinate them."
Whenever I see Michelle, I hear the music from "Psycho."
Cannon, you say you have a intuitive dislike of her, and you make your point well about her really pissed off look and creepy smile facade... I don't get how you make the jump to an "interesting and complex" first lady. Interesting and complex like psychotic and scarey?
It's difficult for me to feel pity for "the fear" of a woman who eats caviar and drinks champagne at the Waldorf while the rest of us tear our hair out over grocery prices, whose children get to go to a 20k/yr private school while the rest of us commoners have to deal with crumbling schools, who wears clothes worth what most of us can't afford to pay for decent health care.
Michelle Obama is doing fine in her Secret Service bubble at Versailles. She and hers are well shielded from the real dangers of the world. Now, the people without health insurance in America...
You know, I glanced at her Princeton undergrad thesis. The ideas didn't phase me in the least but the writing was poor. I'm not convinced she's that smart, but then again, a lot of Ivy League types aren't, so that says nothing in and of itself.
In the end, the Nancy Reagan comparison works for me. That same feeling, that she'll rip off her face like a mask, a la Scooby Doo cartoons. My previous analogy was Dick Cheney. There's something very... Dick Cheney about her.
I avoid talking about her.
Kat, I think you've hit upon something by bringing up that thesis. Like you, I was not offended by what she attempted to say, to the degree that I could dope out her intended meaning. But the writing IS poor. Worse, it's the kind of bad writing that tries very hard to look like smart writing.
Perhaps she is perpetually angry at some inchoate Other in order not to face her anger at herself. She's a middle-weight intellect who wants entry into the heavyweight ring. If she were smarter, SHE could be in her husband's position.
I think she is pissed because she got in too deep with a homosexual. And I'm not joking. I think Barack Obama is a homosexual. Not saying all (or even most) homosexuals hate women, but Obama hates, HATES women. Michelle was an means for him, nothing else. He has had to suppress his homosexuality for his ambition. I think she has picked up on his homsexuality and is pissed at herself for being too stupid to know it from the beginning. It must be miserable life living with a man who would be a homosexual if he was not so blindly ambitious.
kitty, I have seen no evidence for the proposition that Barack Obama is gay. Well, there is the testimony of Larry Sinclair, but he's not exactly the most persuasive witness in the world.
I’m not basing my opinion on evidence or anything anyone has said, I am basing it on my instincts, and nothing more. My instincts have done me well for most of my life. There may be a higher plane than evidence. In a small, small tiny way, it makes me feel sorry for him. Not in the mean old society will not let a homosexual be a homosexual way (of course that is sad), but his own egotism will not allow himself to be what he is.
A lot of people have noted that Obama conveys a certain discomfort in his own skin. People who want to project comfort claims he is comfortable though. And some people who sense the discomfort contribute it to his duel heritage, but as I said, I think it is repressed homosexuality. This is what I find sad. It must be horrible not living the life one is meant to live.
He conveys an aura that he is hiding something, and other than the things that are out there that people have noted as being suspicious, I say he is hiding his homosexuality, whether he realises it or not.
Just saying.
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