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.
Obama Obama Obama Wife and Children THINK like there PASTOR Obama is a good looking man and HE says what people want too HEAR. He lived beening poor too RICH only in the USA. He says what they Want too HEAR BUT he can not run the USA USA USA WE need a MAN WHO IS SMART and been there, HE is too young if he gets in it well take 4 years too teach HIM the ways of the USA<USA<USA THINK
Hello,
Calling people names doesn’t help
any cause. To show respect doesn’t
take much effort. To critizies the canidadtes
that will be in charge of our security and the
health of our nation isn’t wrong. However, one
should reasonably and logically debate issues
and ideas the candidates put forth.
regards,
David Bumgardner
Jenkins, Kentucky
Guess we should go on a lynching party.
Hello,
Mrs. Obama comments that “she’s proud of her country for the
first time in her adult life” leaves me speechless, and not because
I haven’t heard it before, but because its the first time from a
potential first lady.
There are people that truely do not like the
customs and traditions of this great country, and the opportunities
it provides. Mr & Mrs. Obama’s words and actions have caused me to
rethink not voting in the presidential elections. I do not like the spending
habits of the republicans but dislike in the worst way anyone or country
that shows disrespect to the United States of America.
regards,
David Bumgardner
Jenkins, Kentucky
david1equal@gmail.com
This country was brought up in Christian faith. I believe the President of the United States should be of Christian faith and born and bread in the United States; including both parents. But the color of your skin doesn’t make a difference. What Michele Obama said about being “proud of her country now” only tells me that this is the way she actually feels about her country she might say now that she didn’t mean it that way but the first statement came from her inner thoughts. She just didn’t mean to voice it that way. I was told the other day that a person’s child at school had a homework assignment on one of the candidates. She did her assignment on Barack Obama. His father is of Moslem faith (which is ok but not for the President of the United States) his mother does not believe in God. I don’t know if I could trust this. I’m sorry I don’t mean to sound biased but today you don’t know who you can trust.
I failed to mention that the site that allows people to send the free and anonymous Idiotgrams is http://www.landofidiots.com
I am actually a fan of Barack and Michelle Obama. However, she really missed the mark with that comment. I know she didn’t mean it the way it came out, but she gets the idiot award of the week for that one.
Speaking of which, I found a site that allows people to send anonymous, and free, Idiotgrams to others.
Perhaps Michelle should receive a few thousand of them to keep her thinking before her next speech. For that matter, perhaps the Clinton Campaign should receive a few million of them for providing Hilary with the “Xerox” line…Talk about idiotic…
What is wrong with this picture? Michelle Obama is a radical. For her to state this is the first time in her adult life she is proud of her country?!!!! She comes off as a racist pure and simple. It is people like her who give us all a bad name. How dare she. How dare her husband not state this was an inappropriate remark. I was going to vote for him, but this has completey changed my mind. When you look at comments like this, it reflects the FAMILY dynamics. This is how they both feel or she would not have been comfortable in saying it out loud. I am disgusted with the attitude presented. I am disgusted with Obama’s mightier than thou attitude. He has been totally unprofessional in his debates and has show open hostility towards Senator Clinton. This speaks to his real character.
He isn’t what he wants the public to believe and I cannot imagine why so many people are blind to his poor attitude.
Like I said, He just lost my vote, and in speaking with many family and friends, he has also lost their votes.
It is bad enough that we have a war monger on the republican side running, now we have a racist on the other. I will sooner vote for the war monger if Obama gets the nomination.
[...] other equally corrupt systems. The evidence cited for Mrs. Obama’s views is a recent public comment that “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope [...]
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