Michelle Obama Takes Heat for Saying She’s ‘Proud of My Country’ for the First Time
Michelle Obama is taking heat for saying in Wisconsin Monday she's proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. (AP Photo)
Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, is under fire for leaving the impression that she hasn’t been proud of her country until now, when Democrats are beginning to rally around her husband’s campaign.
Speaking in Milwaukee, Wis., on Monday, she said, “People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”
Greeted with rousing applause after making the comment in Milwaukee, Obama delivered an amended version of the speech later that day in Madison, Wis.
“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country … not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change,” she said. “I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment.”
Obama was born in 1964, meaning her adult life began in 1982. Critics quickly seized on the newfound national pride.
“I am proud of my country,” John McCain’s wife, Cindy, said at a campaign stop in Brookfield, Wis., Tuesday. “I don’t know if you heard those words earlier … but I am very proud of my country.”
During a follow up press conference, the Arizona senator was asked if they were responding to Michelle Obama and he deferred to his wife.
McCain responded: “I just wanted to make the statement that I have and always will be proud of my country.”
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the candidate’s wife wasn’t trying to knock her country, only underscore the meaning behind her husband’s campaign.
“The point is that of course Michelle is proud of her country, which is why she and Barack talk constantly about how their story wouldn’t be possible in any other nation on Earth,” she said. “What she meant is that she’s really proud at this moment because for the first time in a long time, thousands of Americans who’ve never participated in politics before are coming out in record numbers to build a grassroots movement for change.”
But conservative outlets aren’t so ready to let her off the hook.
“Can it really be there has not been a moment during that time when she felt proud of her country?” reads an article in Commentary magazine. “Forget matters like the victory in the Cold War; how about only things that have made liberals proud — all the accomplishments of inclusion? How about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991? Or Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s elevation to the Supreme Court?”
The article then says Michelle Obama’s comments suggest “the pseudo-messianic nature of the Obama candidacy is very much a part of the way the Obamas themselves are feeling.”
Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol said the comment “was sort of revealing.”
“She was an adult when we won the Cold War without firing a shot. She was an adult for the last 25 years of economic progress, social progress,” he told FOX News. “I think the Democrats have to be careful … they’re running against the status quo … You have to be careful not to let that slide into a kind of indictment of America. Because I don’t think the American people think on the whole that the last 25 years of American history is a narrative of despair and nothing to be proud of.”
Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said Obama “shouldn’t have said it the way she said it” but she gets the benefit of his doubt. He added that she most likely was just referring to the grassroots movement that’s swelled to support her husband, but she needs to be more careful.
“The Obama’s have to recognize they are now front-runners, and everything they say, it’s now open hunting season for people,” he said.
Click here to read the posting on the Commentary Web site.
FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou and Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.
I was willing to let Mrs. Obama off the hook and consider this insensitive remark as the remark of the inexperienced. But she said it twice. And it was planned. I think she said what she meant and meant what she said. Our country has accomplished much in her lifetime. Frankly, this remark was a slap in the face to every American who disagrees with what she happens to believe. This statements reveals her heart. And if it was a ’simple mistake’ then she isn’t ready to be this proud country’s First Lady, of which she said she has not been proud of.
[...] derails her husbands chances. She is not fit to be the 1st lady if her views on America are true. Michelle Obama Takes Heat for Saying She’s ‘Proud of My Country’ for the First Tim… __________________ Ruggers–The AssNinjaLeesta. [...]
WONDERFUL Michelle ! Spoken like a true moron.
I love the “spin doctors” who chime in on these sites, attempting to explain away her bone-headed thoughts on this nation.
I’ll bet that the majority of the “give-Michelle-a-hug” authors here have NEVER had to step-up and actually contribute to this country’s defense, welfare, or security. Nope, just kick back, enjoy the fruits of and freedoms of American society - sniping at those who STAND for something, while DEFENDING the miserable words of a women who knows little of sacrafice.
Michelle, I sincerely hope you regret your words, and take some time to reflect on their callousness.
Perhaps you could visit Arlington National Cemetery one fall morning, and, while facing those rows and rows of cold headstones, utter your contemptible words to those who fought and died for your freedom of speech… in a nation you’re embarrassed of.
- Ma’am, you sicken me.
- Sincerely, an Air Force Veteran (MSgt) “G”
All I can say is the house and senate still have their say thank God. How much change do you think thay will be willing to endure. None, unless it lines their pockets, and that just might be a good thing for once.
As a African American woman, in THIS country, I’ve been given more reasons to be disappointed and HURT than proud, until recently.
My parents struggled to give me the best, and teach me that we are more alike than different and if i could compare the number of times, i’ve been HURT by believing that to the number of reasons i have to be proud….TRUST me there would be NO contest.
It’s easier to cast a stone than look at yourself!
Obama & co. won’t be “proud” of this country until they replace every white CEO in America with someone “of color.” Quotos, affirmative action…they don’t care how it’s done. But just take a look at the crap cities they do run. They’re all hell holes of poverty, drugs & gangs. I say “no thanks” to Obama & his racist crowd. I’d rather vote for Hillary or McCain.
Your video clips of the two Michelle Obama statements first in Milwaukie and then her amended version in Madison do not match up to the transcipts you published. Your Madison clip has the word ‘really’ chopped out, and rather sloppily I might add. It should show her saying ‘I am really proud’ of my country. By editing ‘really’ out of the clip the context and meaning is somewhat changed, serving the purpose of suggesting she was never proud of her country prior to this moment.
She deserves better than this. So do the American people. If you guys are really ‘fair and balanced’ you will correct this error. This edited clip by the way is the one making the rounds. And this is exactly why so many people ‘hope’ that supporting Obama might change the tone and tenor of the political dialogue in our country.
Fix the clip, guys. You can get the original off of Cspan if necessary.
Gi Joe’s post says it all. God bless people like him. Also Alan Keyes has more intelligence in his pinky finger than Obama’s whole body.
I do know why your station is still on this subject of Michele Obama’s
speech in Wisconsin. You are taking this speech out of context. You
just want to find something negative about Senator Obama’s campaign.
Another thing, why do you think you can read someone’s mind. Now
that is going alittle bit too far. You never know from one day to the next
what you are going to do, to try and sabotage Senator Obama’s campaign. You cannot stand it that he is doing so well.
Cindy McCain? Isn’t she the trust fund baby that stole drugs from her own charity and was rescued from prosecution and embarrassment by her husband’s political influence, and isn’t her husband that guy who divorced his first wife after she was crippled in a car accident?