March 14, 2013

"Michelle makes me tidy up, admits messy President Obama."

Actual headline at The NY Post for an article about how the First Lady is on the cover of Vogue again.
“I had this little bachelor apartment that Michelle refused to stay in because she thought it was a little, uh . . . you know, pizza boxes everywhere... When she came, I had to get her a hotel room.”
That's a very casual revelation that she would have slept overnight with him if only he'd had a nicer looking place. There's zero regard for the folks in this country (and world) who think you shouldn't have sex until you're married. And he's going out of his way to make her sound snooty. I had to get her a hotel room.
“And what Michelle has done is to remind me every day of the virtues of order,” the chief executive said. “Being on time. Hanging up your clothes. Being intentional about planning time with your kids.”
Why would a man say that about his wife? It makes it sound like they have a mother-and-son relationship. And what woman wants to be thought of as a stickler for order? It's not sexy, and it's not  respectful. Plus, from a political standpoint, it sounds fascist, and it prompts us to think about her efforts to tell us what we're allowed to eat. Does she care about our health, or is it — as the right-wingers like to say — all about control?
He added, “We’re very different people, and some of that’s temperamental, some of it is how we grew up. Michelle grew up in a model nuclear family: mom, dad, brother. I had this far-flung family — father left at a very young age, a stepfather who ended up passing away as well. My mother was this wonderful spirit, and she was adventurous but not always very well organized.”
So your wife is the mother you never had, and your mother sounds like the sex partner an adult male would want!
“Ninety percent of our conversation is about these girls: What are they doing? And who’s got what practice? And what birthday party is coming up? And did we get a gift for this person?” the first lady said.
90%? If true, that's terrible. Where is their relationship as adults? I have trouble believing it's true, since I assume Michelle has people to handle the girls' social schedule and gift-buying. Whether it's true or not, it's a choice to present us with this picture of their relationship, all about fussy household details, short on wide-ranging conversation, and utterly unsexy. It's in Vogue, so it must be what they think women want to hear. They must think women love the idea of a man tamed by his woman. Or maybe they are revealing how they think ordinary couples behave and they're posing as just like you.
President Obama admitted that he benefited politically coming into the public’s eye as a young parent. He and Michelle looked like any other husband and wife struggling to make ends meet:
“We had to figure out how to make a mortgage, payin’ the bills, goin’ to Target, and freakin’ out when . . . the woman who’s looking after your girls while Michelle’s working suddenly decides she’s quittin’.”
You've got to give him some credit for genuineness amid the fakery. He admits he's using this material for political benefit, and the pose is so exaggerated that only a nitwit would fail to see that it's posing. In that sense, we can see that he is an ordinary guy... if the ordinary guy is a self-advantaging faker. But is that what women want? A man who exploits his family life for careerist goals?

176 comments:

edutcher said...

Give it a rest.

Little Barry is so fussy and anal, it's one of the reasons everybody thinks he's stands in the wrong batter's box.

I don't doubt for an instant Moochelle wears the pants (the same way Hillary! and Elizabeth Edwards did), but this cute little Ozzie and Harriet moment is strictly for the low information voters like machine and Diamond.

AllenS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

Men and women have different ideas of clean enough.

Clutter doesn't affect men.

Obama is claiming to be a regular guy.

When living with a woman, men make compromises, but the woman still gets to say when things are clean enough.

So mostly the woman winds up doing the cleaning.

Nonapod said...

"goin’ to Target,"

I'd be surprised if Obama has ever set foot in a Target. He's jus' trying to seem folksy.

Robert Zaleski said...

90% of the time talking about kids as they approach 10+ years sounds normal to me. I mean what's left to talk to my wife about? But our kids, there's a wonder of newness every day with the crazy stuff they do, and how WE will enjoy or guide those actions into forming them into adults.

rcommal said...

"Put the butter up, you stink-foot, you!"

(Couldn't resist.)

Sorun said...

"But is that what women want?"

He won two national elections, so he obviously knows how to appeal to most women.

jr565 said...

I actually don't have a problem with a lot if what he's saying. If left to their own devices, men can get slobs. Men clean u their act to be with women.
Women are good at domesticating men and making them more presentable.

campy said...

Is this Zero's show of humility for the day?

Astro said...

It reinforces the Republican complaint that he's not 'the adult in the room'.

edutcher said...

Sorun said...

But is that what women want?

He won two national elections, so he obviously knows how to appeal to most women.


No, he stole at least one, so this is just trying to keep the conversation away from the sequester, which was a way from trying to keep the conversation away from unemployment, which was a way...

lemondog said...

Give it a rest.

What's coming down? Somethin' up (or down) w/WH attempting to humanize.

Clutter doesn't affect men.
Vicki doesn't seem to mind.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

There are all sorts of beards, it seems.

rcommal said...

I remember 2007! (Two links.)

Old tropes trotted out.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Geez. They even drop the 'g's in writing. Obama must have been usin' his ethnic speech pattern in the interview instead of the professor style that he sometimes affects.

I suppose that is also to show that Obama is just a regular guy, or something. Or...maybe he is just a chameleon.

Seeing Red said...

She whined that she could barely afford ballet lessons for the girls and they were making over $300k/yr!

test said...

He and Michelle looked like any other husband and wife struggling to make ends meet

It sure must have been tough making ends meet on 250k income. That's probably why corrupt real estate mogul Tony Resko helped them buy their house. I wonder what Barack did for Tony? Mowed the grass?

jr565 said...

Is it sexy? No. Is it respectable to say that? I think so.
Not that I care either way when it comes to these two, but its an articulation of men women relationships thats all too common and normal even.
It's like jack Nicholson sayin to Helen Hunt "you make me want to be a better man" in AsGood as it gets.
She took it as a compliment.
As to the sleeping with people before marriage, as much as I'd like to condemn it, I can't. (Since I'm not married it pretty much describes my relationships).i don't know, in describing his history with Michelle that he would have to show consideration to the no sex before marriage crowd since historically that's how it happened with their relationship.
Should he have held out till marriage? What do I know. It's hard to do that these days.

CatherineM said...

UGH! They always do this. The fake interviews where he says, "She keeps me down to earth! I am all, hey, I am the POTUS baby, and she's all, yeah? Take out the garbage! Keeps me grounded!"

FAKE! And I really hate the fake 'n, as in payin' bills! You graduated with a million dollar book deal when he graduated from law school and he's complain'n about payin' bills? SPARE ME!

Michelle's job? You mean the $300k a year sweetheart job with Chicago hospitals that didn't exist before her and doesn't exist now that she's left? And they had a hard time payin' the bills on that sweetheart salary?

Yeah, they just regular folk!

Colonel Angus said...

I will confess my African American acquaintances are few, but those that I know, certainly don't go out of their way to self depecrate themselves to elevate their wives or spouses.

I do notice that tends to be a trait among white married men to openly downgrade themselves and their autonomy in the home among their peers. Eg: need to check with the boss....she who must be obeyed, etc.

I seem to be the exception to the rule in that respect since I have a wife and not a surrogate mother. I'm proud to be king of my castle.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'd have thrown him a few points had he referred to it as his "swinging bachelor pad."

Balfegor said...

Why would a man say that about his wife? It makes it sound like they have a mother-and-son relationship. And what woman wants to be thought of as a stickler for order? It's not sexy, and it's not respectful.

It may not be sexy or respectful, but isn't it 100% the sitcom stereotype of married life?

TosaGuy said...

I have no interest in the personal lives of our overlords.

Darrell said...

So who is the kids' father?
Valerie Jarrett?

The couple in The Americans has the same backstory.

Scott M said...

90%? If true, that's terrible.

I don't know what your situation was, AA, when you had your son. Married? How many kids?

My wife and I were married for five wonderful years before we had children and during that time our relationship all about us. It ceased being all about us on 4-30-2003. Less so on 10-26-07 and less so again on 10-29-09.

We have a strong, rewarding marriage, but, if I must put a percentage on it, 90% of what we do and talk about is kids, home (which has to do with the kids), bills (which has to do with the kids) and schedules...which again, has to a lot to do with the kids.

Just how much personal growth and relationship exploration do you think married couples with small kids manage after both have worked 8-10 hour jobs and come home with roughly enough time to get dinner and such ready before it's time for bed?

jr565 said...

Again though. I have no interest in the relationship of two odious people. This type of story, a puff piece, is in the place of stories holding Obama accountable for policies or even addressing whether he is being honest in his words.
Trying to humanize the president and his wife is just Pravda doing a story about uncle Joe and his gloriousness no more no less.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

It's in Vogue, so it must be what they think women want to hear.

That seems strange. How many women who read Vogue are married-with-kids, at least the kind of MWK whose discussions with their husbands are "90%" about the kids. Don't they read Good Housekeeping?

President-Mom-Jeans said...

I draw the conclusion from this that Obama is gayer than a purse full of rainbows.

Gayer than a stack of strawberry pancakes.

Gayer than a nectarine in jean shorts.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

SteveR said...

Poor folks, strugglin' to make ends meet. Just like the regular folk. All that talkin' about the girls, what's goin' on in private skool and how the servants are handlin' them.

edutcher said...

We saw the same stuff 50 years ago.

"How Jackie Talks To Jack" (this is after Dallas).

Chi-chi Democrat women apparently have always been dumb enough to buy this drivel.

Marshal said...

He and Michelle looked like any other husband and wife struggling to make ends meet

Oh, yeah, Barry with a Senate seat (state or US) bought and paid for by da machine, Moochelle with her fake hospital job, home(s), food, transport, security, and parties every weekend currently funded by the US taxpayer.

Life is Hell for the Os and always has been.

Colonel Angus said...

I will confess my African American acquaintances are few, but those that I know, certainly don't go out of their way to self depecrate themselves to elevate their wives or spouses.

I do notice that tends to be a trait among white married men to openly downgrade themselves and their autonomy in the home among their peers. Eg: need to check with the boss....she who must be obeyed, etc.


As I say, whitest white guy on the planet.

Freeman Hunt said...

My husband and I are into parenting. We're dedicated to the subject of parenting. We have it set up so that I can stay at home and be our CEO of parenting.

But I doubt that parenting makes up so much as 50% of what we talk about. Probably much less than that.

I find going over schedules in conversation to be maddeningly boring. We use a Google calendar that we can both access.

Nonapod said...

I'm assuming this sort of self-deprecating crap is the reason President Boyfriend won 90% of the SWF vote.

CatherineM said...

rcommel - thanks for the reminder. I forgot Michelle let the world know her husband is snory and stinky in the morning.

jr565 said...

Scott M wrote:
Just how much personal growth and relationship exploration do you think married couples with small kids manage after both have worked 8-10 hour jobs and come home with roughly enough time to get dinner and such ready before it's time for bed?

erg. It sounds exhausting. And this is probably the main reason I haven't had kids yet. That becomes your life.
Oprah once had a woman in who said she valued her relationship with her spouse more than the kids and that's Kim of what id think I'd want. Not that I hate kids mind you, but rather feel they can turn spouses against each other because they become the sole focus of the couple and not the relationship of the couple.

Not saying this is true for you, but it wod probably be true for me.

Shouting Thomas said...

But is that what women want? A man who exploits his family life for careerist goals?

Yes. Exploits, however, is the wrong word.

Drago said...

Ann: "Where is their relationship as adults?"

What difference, at this point, does it make?

Freeman Hunt said...

(Another type of conversation that I always look to escape from: "How long does the baby sleep? When does he go to bed? How many times does he wake up? How many times does he have milk? When? How many times does he eat other food? What foods? When? How many diapers do you go through? Wet? Dirty?" Ahhhhhhh! Unless the person asking is another mom trying to figure something out about her own child by comparison, why would anyone care about this?! And yet those are common conversation openers from other people when you have a baby.)

Scott M said...

FH

You just have the one baby, though, right?

Freeman Hunt said...

This is my third baby. We have three sons.

Shouting Thomas said...

My three sister and mother have always been a bit angry with me. Took me years, and a dose of men's movement indoctrination to discover what it was all about.

I left to pursue my own ambitions as a musician and artist, which isn't a very practical goal. I've had some success and I've enjoyed the adventure and excitement that the life of a musician afforded me.

I'm the first member of my extended family to graduate from a four year college.

My sisters and my mother wanted me to stay home, choose a conventional career and become the wealthy patriarch of the extended family, leading the rest of the family to success by example.

So, yes, this is what women want. Althouse has stated the same in a very negative fashion.

Freeman Hunt said...

And we homeschool, and one son has outlier educational needs which require much research and planning. So there's plenty to talk about.

But there are plenty of other things to talk about too.

Unknown said...

If this is the "charm offensive" I've been hearing about Obama needs to up his game.
Fake humility is not charming.

Scott M said...

This is my third baby. We have three sons.

LOL

Okay...I just remember the hubub about the last one :)

dreams said...

Michelle seems to me to be mostly a parent personality as in adult, child and parent personality, (from the book I'm OK,You OK) obviously the adult personality is the desired predominate personality. If you buy into that premise and I do.

Shouting Thomas said...

Given the chaos of his mother's life, I do not doubt that Obama sought some conventional mothering in his relationship with his wife.

I don't see anything wrong with that.

dreams said...

We need to remember that Obama is a mama's boy, a communist son of a fellow traveler.

Shouting Thomas said...

We need to remember that Obama is a mama's boy, a communist son of a fellow traveler.

Then it is all the more remarkable that he became President of the United States.

Cheryl said...

Is that what women want? I don't know anyone, man or woman, who would want that.

How unloving of him to talk about her in that way. She does come across as the school-marm type and it is just reinforced with articles like this that are supposed to make them look like "just folks."

And how disrespectful of her to treat him in that manner. What a terrible example to her daughters. Only a very unpleasant woman wants to marry a child.

Finally, 90%??? Seriously? We have four kids and our dinner conversation is almost never about schedules. More than half the time my husband (or I, when I had a business) will bring home a business problem for the kids to solve, something that actually happened at work. They love it, and I can see they are learning so much by this daily problem solving. (We've been doing this since my oldest was five or six. He's fourteen now, and the youngest is 9.)

What a lost opportunity for those girls. They should be getting an up-close look at leadership. Instead they talk about birthday parties and buying presents. Gag.

Synova said...

Couples do this all the time, though.

"He's so hopeless, ha, ha, ha."

"She's got me under her thumb, ha, ha, ha."

Unless you're involved in one of those "repressive" evangelical sects that suggest women ought to be submissive (and by "submissive" I mean "praise your husband and treat him like an adult") you probably don't hear anyone saying that it's *not* okay to act like it's cute that your husband is like a little boy and that you act like his mother.

The way Obama is talking about his wife is just the other side of that.

Wince said...

Empty "pizza boxes *everywhere*".

The universal sign of male drift?

machine said...

Hahaha....

Soooo...it would be OK if he were a cheerleader from Connecticut pretending to clear brush on his Texas ranch, but.....


Hilarious....

edutcher said...

Shouting Thomas said...

We need to remember that Obama is a mama's boy, a communist son of a fellow traveler.

Then it is all the more remarkable that he became President of the United States.


A lot of famous men qualify as mama's boys, but the fact Choom is POTUS is nothing short of frightening.

edutcher said...

machine said...

Hahaha....

Soooo...it would be OK if he were a cheerleader from Connecticut pretending to clear brush on his Texas ranch, but...


He didn't pretend, he did it, unlike Barry writing his "autobiography".

Synova said...

"Oprah once had a woman in who said she valued her relationship with her spouse more than the kids and that's Kim of what id think I'd want. Not that I hate kids mind you, but rather feel they can turn spouses against each other because they become the sole focus of the couple and not the relationship of the couple."

When my kids were babies I thought this was horrible, but now I look back and think that it's right. At church they'd say priorities should be "god, husband, kids..." in that order. And now I'm older and I've seen too many times where a mother is so into her kids that her relationship with her husband goes away. And I'm not sure it's good for the kids to be put first either. It's great, emotionally, to get all those hugs and be the center of your baby's life and your little kids and that emotional relationship can be fulfilling as well as exhausting, but it's not healthy if it takes the place of your adult relationships and from what I've seen it often does.

And then your kids grow up. Like they're supposed to do. And then what do you have?

Synova said...

That's why "my dog is like my child" is so common. Dogs don't grow up.

Seeing Red said...

If parents don't hang together, they will hang separately.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

And then your kids grow up. Like they're supposed to do. And then what do you have?

Exactly. Children are important and need to be nurtured, but will eventually grow up and have lives separate from you.

DADvocate said...

Michelle sounds like the traditional housewife and a picky little hussy before they married.

Richard Dolan said...

"Why would a man say that about his wife?"

One could ask Ann the same question she poses about the AP's way of describing Pope Francis's decision to fetch his own bags. The point of asking the question in that way is to cast doubt on someone else's intentions and purposes. But, surely, the feminist would acknowledge that what works for them is not necessarily what works for anyone else.

"all about fussy household details, short on wide-ranging conversation, and utterly unsexy."

Well, there you go again, confusing what works for you -- academic blogress and all -- with what works for others. Do you think that Stanley Kowalski and Stella sat around talking about the latest issue of the NYRB to get themselves in the mood?

"But is that what women want? A man who exploits his family life for careerist goals?" Well, the career here is politics -- not dentistry or something else. Politics has a way of exploiting everything it touches. A woman who wants a politician would have to be a nitwit not to know how that will play out.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

The approval polls must be heading south.

edutcher said...

DADvocate said...

Michelle sounds like the traditional housewife and a picky little hussy before they married.

That was the trail she blazed at Princeton.

And I'd say stereotypical more than traditional.

I think you have a harridan in mind.

YMMV

bagoh20 said...

" But is that what women want?"

See, even you have no idea what they want. Women always want something else.

I was impressed with the Romneys in the interview on Fox recently. They seem like very nice, well-grounded, conscientious and giving people. I don't know if that makes for a good White House or not, but I like them. I don't think they would like me and my lifestyle, but I don't need that to like them, and especially to vote for them.

They are both incredibly attractive people physically for their age. Ann Romney is actually hot at 63. How do they do it?

MadisonMan said...

And then your kids grow up. Like they're supposed to do. And then what do you have?

Exactly.

Double exactly. Parents have to have lives as adults that are separate from their kids. Otherwise you are left twisting in the wind when they leave. And they do leave -- because that's what's healthy. When I read/hear parents -- usually mothers -- say they are their kids' best friends, I feel sorry for them. And parents who overshare things about their kids on facebook? Boundaries, people! Learn them!

MadisonMan said...

To be clear: I feel sorry for them. Them = the kids.

Children should not have to support, emotionally, their parents.

Rabel said...

"By the time I got to the Senate, that had changed. Michelle and the girls, for example, stayed in Chicago, and I had this little bachelor apartment that Michelle refused to stay in..."

The apartment was post-marriage. No premarital sex angle on the story.

Shouting Thomas said...

The family example Obama is setting, contrived or not, is the right message to be sending to his constituency, particularly blacks. Blacks are suffering from the self-inflicted wound of fatherlessness. I'm sure that Obama, having gone through this himself, is aware of the pain and damage caused by fatherlessness.

Public figures send out carefully crafted messages. That's part of the game.

So, the issue isn't whether the message is carefully crafted. That's a given. The question is the content of the message.

Obama is sending out the right message here.

Ann Althouse said...

"Geez. They even drop the 'g's in writing. Obama must have been usin' his ethnic speech pattern in the interview instead of the professor style that he sometimes affects."

Maybe somebody inside Vogue is not in the tank for Obama. Maybe they were a little offended that he was talking to Vogue as if the fashion in Vogue could be bought at Target. Doesn't he know who we are?

Vogue is for high-class ladies and the ladies who want to fantasize about being high class. To talk to them like they shop at Target and can barely scrape enough money for that it blow up the whole Vogue game. Vogue pretends you're buying $1,000 blouses.

Something's badly amiss, and recording the dropped g's is a way of calling bullshit on him.

David said...

"Genuineness among the fakery" and "humility on display" all in the same day's posts.

Theme alert.

What a strange man Obama is. Crass also.

Tank said...

1. Agree. One of the few good things Zero has done is set a good example of what a black (any) family should look like. Stay at home Mom. Dad with job. Two kids.

2. The 90%. Well, even if it's not really 90%, at certain ages it seems like you spend 90% of your time together doing something with the kids or for the kids or talking about the kids.

3. Rather than throw the pizza boxes in the garbage and make the bed, he paid for a hotel room? Same economic sense he has now.

Bob Boyd said...

What was the old joke about a woman sitting on Pinochio's face moaning,
"Lie to me. Lie to me."

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Ann Romney is actually hot at 63. How do they do it?

Clean living.

Being happy with yourself and with each other.

AllenS said...

The Obama Reality Show.

Rabel said...

ST said:

"I'm sure that Obama, having gone through this himself, is aware of the pain and damage caused by fatherlessness."

True, but from what we know about Barack, Sr., getting away from him was the best thing that ever happened to Jr. and Mom.

David said...

Rabel, do you suppose that Barack was deliberately creating a means to keep Michelle away from his Washington apartment? Perhaps the hotel room was Barack's idea, not Michelle's.

Strange man.

Michael said...

I second what Shouting Thomas wrote and would add that if I had ten minutes with the president I would implore him to use his pulpit to hammer home those points. He has squandered, so far, his exceptional position to make a difference in this, our most important domestic issue.

machine said...

and yet, he clobbered the GOP...twice.

Ann Althouse said...

"I don't know what your situation was, AA, when you had your son. Married? How many kids?"

I had been with my husband for more than 10 years by the time my first son was born, and we had a second son 2 years later. Our marriage lasted 4 more years.

"We have a strong, rewarding marriage, but, if I must put a percentage on it, 90% of what we do and talk about is kids, home (which has to do with the kids), bills (which has to do with the kids) and schedules...which again, has to a lot to do with the kids."

You're asking me to remember percentages from 30 years ago, but I would say that we always had great conversations on wide-ranging topics, and if we talked about the kids, it wasn't just who's going where and when and did we buy the gifts. It was genuinely deep and interesting conversation about the development of the human mind and aspects of human relationships and the depiction of children in fictional writing and many more things. If we lapsed into fussy conversations about errands and social obligations, we would step back and observe the lapse and talk about that.

"Just how much personal growth and relationship exploration do you think married couples with small kids manage after both have worked 8-10 hour jobs and come home with roughly enough time to get dinner and such ready before it's time for bed?"

In my case, a lot. It's possible that if we'd been more inclined to doggedly perform tasks and not think or say much about larger issues that we never would have broken up. But we also would never have gotten together!

DADvocate said...

harridan

Thanks, edutcher, a new word to me, but will be quite useful in the future.

Rabel said...

Annie Leibovitz took the photos for the article. Perhaps Annie and Obama shared a few thoughts about finance and economics.

After all, they're both hopelessly in debt and can't pay their bills.

sakredkow said...

But is that what women want? A man who exploits his family life for careerist goals?

What could he possibly say that would satisfy you? "I don't answer any personal questions."

You set the bar way too high.

Ann Althouse said...

Freeman Hunt said: "My husband and I are into parenting. We're dedicated to the subject of parenting. We have it set up so that I can stay at home and be our CEO of parenting. But I doubt that parenting makes up so much as 50% of what we talk about. Probably much less than that. I find going over schedules in conversation to be maddeningly boring. We use a Google calendar that we can both access."

This is the way it should be. I trust you and your husband know how much you have and never forget and mess it up, because those of us who want to believe this is the way to do it will be crushed.

Brian Brown said...

I had to get her a hotel room.

Totally shocking that the woman who does nothing but eat, party, and vacation, would demand this.

stunning, really.

Jim said...

Columbia University and Harvard Law and here he is droppin' his g's. Nothing grates on my ears more than when the Politicians start dropping g's and doing the but but but stutter.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

There's no escape from Obama's cult of personality.

Kelly said...

Making a couple of hundred G's a year, they're just like my family! While the Army forgot to pay my husband for four months, the Obama's were struggling to pay for ballet lessons. Poor them.

LarryK said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shouting Thomas said...

True, but from what we know about Barack, Sr., getting away from him was the best thing that ever happened to Jr. and Mom.

Children are almost always better off having a father close to them.

Who are we to judge Barack, Sr.'s competency as a father? That's for God to judge.

LarryK said...

Not only has Barack Obama never set foot in Target, I doubt that he was ever a slob either. He strikes me as such an 'orderly' person that he would iron his socks. Remember David Brooks fawning over the crease in his pants?

And I'd believe this story more if Michelle saw all the pizza boxes lying around his apartment and tried to get him to eat broccoli instead.

Drago said...

Obama really is "sort of God", isn't he?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/06/05/newsweek-s-evan-thomas-obama-sort-god

Drago said...

It's an oldie but goodie...

Colonel Angus said...

What could he possibly say that would satisfy you? "I don't answer any personal questions."

Why not? I'm more interested in a President's ability to lead, not if he's a henpecked ninny.

Colonel Angus said...

. Rather than throw the pizza boxes in the garbage and make the bed, he paid for a hotel room? Same economic sense he has now.

That comment is frameworthy and perfectly highlights how inept Obama is. Well said.

Brian Brown said...

“We had to figure out how to make a mortgage, payin’ the bills, goin’ to Target, and freakin’ out when . . . the woman who’s looking after your girls while Michelle’s working suddenly decides she’s quittin’.”

Remember:

“We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.”

These people are a fucking joke.

She is by far, and it isn't even close, the worst FLOTUS America has ever had.

Colonel Angus said...

The family example Obama is setting, contrived or not, is the right message to be sending to his constituency, particularly blacks.

Bill Cosby was on record saying this long before anyone knew who Obama was. So was Louis Farrakhan for that matter but such a message falls on deaf ears.

Obama may be a point of pride among African Americans but it remains to be seen whether African American males emulate him or continue along their current path simply content that 'one of their own' is in the White House.

Brian Brown said...

By the way, I love how Moochelle calls a $300,000+ per year no-show job at a hospital "the helping industry"

That's nice.

sakredkow said...

Why not? I'm more interested in a President's ability to lead, not if he's a henpecked ninny.

Right. I can just imagine how the the right-wing would shower accolades on Obama if he said he wouldn't answer personal questions. The press and the people in general would reward him.

MadisonMan said...

Dropping the terminal g is a very midwestern thing.

Amartel said...

President Present votes "present" at home as well as at the office. Work is for other people.

I recall a Michelle Obama interview early on where she was bitching about how she had to remind him to "put up the butter" (tidy up in the kitchen). It seemed like an excuse to use a colloquial turn of phrase and act like reg'lar folks. A twofer. Also, this whole act is to create the illusion that the woman is in charge in the relationship when, in fact, she's doing all the work.

Rabel said...

"Who are we to judge Barack, Sr.'s competency as a father?"

I stand corrected ST. Many abusive drunkards are good with kids, so I shouldn't judge.

Colonel Angus said...

Right. I can just imagine how the the right-wing would shower accolades on Obama if he said he wouldn't answer personal questions.

Why should they?

Shouting Thomas said...

I stand corrected ST. Many abusive drunkards are good with kids, so I shouldn't judge.

The question is whether kids are better served by having a father, or by not having a father in their lives.

I have long and bitter personal experience (not with my own father) in this area.

My opinion is that kids are almost always better served by having their father in their life, no matter how "abusive" others might judge that father to be.

Chip Ahoy said...

A few months back a woman told me that she and her husband are trying to have a baby and I thought, "simple enough."

Then a few days ago I asked her about that, how was that going? I realized I was asking about something that I didn't actually care about, it was a woman's question, not mine, but I asked it anyway. And she answered.

And the whole time she was sincerely answering I was thinking inside, "OH SHIT SHE'S ANSWERING!!!!1!1!1 AND NOW I'M HEARING ALL THIS CRAZY SHIT." But I kept up an outward calm demeanor as if not experiencing internal turmoil and distress, and did learn not to ask such stupid questions.

Anonymous said...

"I'm assuming this sort of self-deprecating crap is the reason President Boyfriend won 90% of the SWF vote."

3/14/13, 9:57 AM

No, it was because of what the alternative was.

Shouting Thomas said...

No, it was because of what the alternative was.

Well, yeah, but that is nowhere near as dramatic a thing as you're making it out to be.

In every election, there is a winner and a loser.

Winning doesn't make one a sainted sage. Losing doesn't make one an evil idiot.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Dropping the terminal g is a very midwestern thing.

Which would be relevant if he were raised in the midwest, instead of Hawaii, Indonesia and on the west coast.

Obama, like Hillary, puts on a fake accent to talk down to the audience he is addressing. Black preacher cadence for one group. Professorial tenor for another. The man is a fake, through and through.

n.n said...

He is opportunistic.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Obama camp promised scary Romney would give us all cancer.
The faithful believed...

Meanwhile - Insurers warn of overhaul-induced sticker shock

Colonel Angus said...

No, it was because of what the alternative was.

And what was that? Women would have to pay for their own birth control and abortions?

Known Unknown said...

I'm the gay, neat one in my marriage.

NTTATWWT

Colonel Angus said...

The question is whether kids are better served by having a father, or by not having a father in their lives.

It goes without saying that a child is better off with a father in the house. That of course pre-supposes that the mother exercises some discretion in who she fucks and chooses someone who would make a good father and not just some dude she thinks is cool.

Freeman Hunt said...

"I trust you and your husband know how much you have and never forget and mess it up, because those of us who want to believe this is the way to do it will be crushed."

We endeavor not to crush you!

MadisonMan said...

Which would be relevant if he were raised in the midwest, instead of Hawaii, Indonesia and on the west coast.

Well, his wife is a midwesterner, and he was living in the midwest. Easy to adapt to the language. I no longer live in Pennsylvania (or sound like I do), but I can easily adapt my language back to sounding like it when I go back home.

I agree it's ridiculous that the person writing the copy dropped the g at the end of all the ings. What were they trying to show? Attention to detail?

mccullough said...

Obama has a 1950s style marriage. Probably why he's been married for 20 years. Getting to golf a lot helps, too.

CyndiF said...

So I am not a huge fan of the Obamas but I'm not that worked up about them, either. I also like Michelle's style. However, the media adulation drives me crazy. I picked up a copy of Vogue a few months ago and there was an article about how we should just step back and let Obama get his stuff done in term 2 and I'm thinking, I guess dissent isn't patriotic anymore.

Between that and Anna Wintour's reign turning Vogue into a shallow, boring look into the mindset of Upper East Side ladies who lunch, I was kind of hoping she would get the UK ambassadorship and let someone else run the magazine.

Anonymous said...

"No, it was because of what the alternative was."
-----------------
"And what was that? Women would have to pay for their own birth control and abortions?"

3/14/13, 12:12 PM

Nope.

Darrell said...

The article was originally titled "He's Got 999 Problems But A Bitch Ain't One."

JAL said...

Tony Rezko should have cut him some more slack.

And they were a two income family, right?

Poor housing choice. You should not have to wonder if you can make your mortgage payment if you have the same jobs you had when you bought the place.

Sheesh.

And I'm a dunderhead about financial stuff.

No wonder he can't have a realistic take on money.

JAL said...

And I hate that fake folksy stuff dropping the ends of his words. It makes me gag whenever I have the unfortunate experience of actually having to listen to him.

They do not talk that way in Hawaii and most of us in slope head country tighten up our language when not talking to family.

And I could swear in a 2008 campaign profile it talked about how orderly he was an how he had to tidy up everything.

MayBee said...

Caring about the first couple is toxic to this country.

Joe Schmoe said...

I've no beef with Barry talking about his family dynamic. About the only thing I like about him is that he seems to genuinely like his nuclear family and he and his wife seem to be raising their family in a traditional fashion. The concept of family in the black community has been devastated by the incredibly high rates of single mothers and absent fathers.

tiger said...

Michelle said in an interview from a few years back that she and Barry don't share a bedroom - and hadn't since before he was elected President.

She and her daughters said he was 'stinky' and 'snore-y' and so they kept separate bedrooms.

Ain't that sumptin?

Ruth Anne Adams said...

I prefer the marital dynamic of the Ben Affleck/Jennifer Garner as Althouse discerned after his Oscar speech over the Obamas.

As to droppin' one's 'G's, that's why Sarah Palin isn't Sarah Paling.

bgates said...

Do you think that Stanley Kowalski and Stella sat around talking about the latest issue of the NYRB to get themselves in the mood?

I can't believe that you would compare Stanley Kowalski, who I always picture as a young Marlon Brando, to the First Lady of the United States.

MayBee said...

I was a SAHM (mostly. I sometimes did different part time jobs). I didn't bother my husband with the kids schedule or whether we'd purchased a gift for who's birthday party. Why did he have to care about that? He didn't tell me about his meeting schedule at the office or whether he'd gotten some report done

We did talk about the kids, though, because they are interesting and funny, and sometimes challenging. But the day to day stuff? I handled it.

bgates said...

What could he possibly say that would satisfy you?

"In sharp contrast to my opponent, I have chosen elder statesman and eminent thinker of the Democratic Party Joe Biden as my running mate."

Well, it worked on her once.

bgates said...

"By the way, Joe Biden's right through that door. You'll want to knock first, and for the love of God stand to the side of the door when you do it."

"Just trust me on this."

MayBee said...

Althouse said:Something's badly amiss, and recording the dropped g's is a way of calling bullshit on him.
-–-------------

HA! Maybe you are on to something. Shouldn't Anna Wintour have gotten her ambassadorship by now?

dreams said...

"She and her daughters said he was 'stinky' and 'snore-y' and so they kept separate bedrooms."

I think he is toxic.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Darrell,
By your avatar, I presume you watch "Mad Men."

By your previous comment, I presume you watch "The Americans."

Do you also watch "The Walking Dead" and "Duck Dynasty"?

Cuz if you do, Honey, could you bring home some milk?

Darrell said...

Ruth Anne--

I would respond, but the headmistress personally warned me about flirting being cause for deletion. So now I return to Being Human UK, to re-watch the past couple "series." Spartacus S03E06 is about to finish.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Darrell,
Got it! Carry on!

Bathroom Behavior Specialist said...

So ... did Michelle train him to leave the toilet seat down, or was he already doing that before he was married?

campy said...

So ... did Michelle train him to leave the toilet seat down, or was he already doing that before he was married?

Teh Won has no need of such appliances.

Matt said...

Althouse
What the heck are you smoking these days? Seriously. Millions of men respect his wives for many reasons INCLUDING the fact that many women are tidier and neater and bring order to the home better than men. What the hell is wrong wih that??!! That's a GOOD compliment.

Just because you hate the Obamas [don't deny it] you don't have to hate every single thing they say and do. That is obsessive and odd.

Unknown said...

Matt
Consider the possibility that What we hate is fakery and contempt for our intelligence.

Unknown said...

Damn iPad. I fixed that and it still left the capital on what.

Æthelflæd said...

I'm not sure that this is a good family message. "Get married and settle down and you can be hen-pecked, mothered, and publiocly humiliated by your wife". How is that a pro-father message?

I homeschool our five children, and like others have said, they don't take up 90% of my conversation time with my husband. I would say the percentage has gone up this year, because I have a junior and a senior, and all these college decisions, etc. require husbandly input, because he has a lot of wisdom to offer.

I was in danger of getting too caught up in the kids when they were babies, but a wise older woman observed what was happening and gave me some timely words of advice. Things might have gone badly for us otherwise.

Kirk Parker said...

bgates @ 1:35pm,

LOL! Best tangent ever!!!

Kirk Parker said...

That does it! I'm starting a pool: Is the President a sitzpinkler or not?

Who's in?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Methinks some blogger needs a sense of humor.

Are they available for sale on Amazon?

ken in tx said...

Sitzpinkler? We have a urinal in our master bathroom. We have no arguments about toilet seats. It did not cost that much, and after I am dead and gone, everyone will know a man lived here.

Why should a man use the ladies room in his own house?

rcommal said...

Do people, any people, really worry about or care that much about pee (or peeing)? I'm having one of those moments when I realize that not only am I out of touch, and not only that I have been out of touch, but that I have never been in touch from--so far as I can tell and certainly that I can remember--the day I was born.

rcommal said...

I was trained from early childhood to lift the toilet seat before I puked--when I had the flu, for example. (And I am a girl, in case I need to say that.) I kid you not. It had to do with containment, as opposed to deflection, of stuff preferably not more broadly splattered wherever than need be, if and when possible. Decide for yourself how to characterize that.

rcommal said...

And before my family embraced environmentalism, I was taught to spit in the toilet, not the sink, after brushing my teeth. (Again, this was also from very early childhood.) This ALSO involved lifting the seat--before spitting.

rcommal said...

I know, I know--I was raised funny.

But not as unusually as you might think, unless you were raised in a remarkably insular fashion--

which is sort of what I think.

Joan said...

Freeman, somehow I missed the arrival of your third boy. Belated congratulations!

I'm about 11 years (I'd estimate) ahead of you with my 3 kids, and I do have a girl in the middle there, but let me encourage you on the Google calendar thing: keep it up, having a single calendar works.

We don't use Google calendar but we do use the MonsterGrid calendar and have it hanging in our kitchen where everyone can see it. If you have an appointment/rehearsal/field trip or whatever, you make sure it goes on the calendar so everyone knows and we can make transportation arrangements. Eventually I can see us moving to a digital calendar, but right now the paper one is good because not everyone has computer access, but everyone can walk into the kitchen.

At any rate, we do, as a family, have about 30 second conversation at Sunday dinner: any appointments or anything scheduled for this week? Just to remind the drivers who needs to be picked up/dropped off when & where. Then we go back to more interesting discussions or the question of day challenge, in which it is increasingly more difficult for me to stump my kids with science or history facts, but about equally difficult for them to stump me with vocabulary (although my daughter did get me with "usufruct".)

The Obamas make me shudder. I don't know why they even bother with this fake-folksy stuff anymore, it's not like he's ever going to run again.

Freeman Hunt said...

"I don't know why they even bother with this fake-folksy stuff anymore, it's not like he's ever going to run again."

That's a good question. Why sell themselves now? Now, when he never has to get another vote again, they should feel free to be entirely authentic.

rcommal said...

That's a good question. Why sell themselves now? Now, when he never has to get another vote again, they should feel free to be entirely authentic.

With respect (and you should know that I mean that), Freeman, he DOES have to get another "vote":

"Mid-term elections" would be another way to put it.

Whether to cement previous benchmarks or to achieve as-yet unreached ones, the upcoming midterms do matter, after all.

Midterms are indirect votes-of-confidence (or something else), are they not?

UncommonMurre said...

"There's zero regard for the folks in this country (and world) who think you shouldn't have sex until you're married."

Oh nonsense. You're using regard to mean "pretend everyone is those folks," and it's asking too much. I'm one of those folks, and currently dating, and 43, and believe me those of us who think you shouldn't have sex until you're married are rare. Asking everyone else to pretend is ridiculous.

Darrell said...

Obama's favorite pizza?
Pupperoni.
No, not the brand of dog food, the pups themself. The trick is finding a Korean pizza place.

Dark Avenger said...

Ann, just one question. Where you sober when you accepted Meade's proposal of marriage?

Freeman Hunt said...

Rcommal, good point.

Unknown said...

Does this post have any point whatsoever?

CJColucci said...

Get help. All of you, or almost.

Meade said...

CJColucci said...
"Get help. All of you, or almost."

CJC, maybe you could get some help with your sentence fragments. Scroll up. Perhaps the Dark Avenger could help you. He's male and he's occupied as a tutor in the field of education. I learned that by reading his user profile.

Wait. Never mind. Unfortunately, I just went to his website. It appears he himself needs help, laying out his website and spelling the word "hypocrisy". Can you help him? Thanks, CJ.

Ann Althouse said...

"Where you sober when you accepted Meade's proposal of marriage?"

Are you under the impression that if someone accepts a marriage proposal while mentally incapacitated that they are then required to marry the person? If so, please be careful!

Rose said...

The trouble with Obama's 'folksy' tales is - it's likely a complete fabrication. Both he and Michelle like to paint this picture - and she even does it when she talks about her girls' 'struggle' with weight, say whatever you want people to hear, not what they want to hear, what you want them to hear - it's a very different thing. He's filling air, building himself a cushion, keeping the masses hypnotized, it's a snake-charmer thing. Some of us are immune, and find it revolting.

Dark Avenger said...

Gee, Meade, I misspelled one word, you're married a box wine addict for the rest of your life.

Meade said...

Gee, DA, nice - one sentence, two falsities. First, you are a serial misspeller who needs help. And second, in 4 years of being together, I've never known her to drink boxed wine or to drink more than 2 glasses in a day - typically, she has one glass of very good wine. Is that addiction? I don't think so. I find it lovely.

CTS said...

Quite apart from the silliness of all this, they were married at the time referenced.

CTS said...

Quite apart from the silliness of all this, they were married at the time referenced.

Greg Milner said...

"That's a very casual revelation that she would have slept overnight with him if only he'd had a nicer looking place. There's zero regard for the folks in this country (and world) who think you shouldn't have sex until you're married."

So Michelle Obama shouldn't imply that she and her now-husband had sex because some readers (almost certainly a small minority) think premarital sex is wrong.

Why stop there?

From the article: “I had this little bachelor apartment that Michelle refused to stay in because she thought it was a little, uh . . . you know, pizza boxes everywhere..."

Althouse-bot 3000: "That's a very casual revelation that he ate pizza. There's zero regard for the folks in this country (and world) who are vegans."

Sometimes I think this blog--and Althouse's whole shtick--is just a big piece of performance art.

Ann Althouse said...

"So Michelle Obama shouldn't imply that she and her now-husband had sex because some readers (almost certainly a small minority) think premarital sex is wrong."

But obviously, you've completely misread that, Greg. It wasn't Michelle who implied those things. It was Barack. He didn't need to say that Michelle, when we were unmarried, was averse to staying in my apartment. I'm interested in what it says about Barack that he chose to cast his wife in that light. He's making her look prissy even as he's revealing that she did not embrace traditional morality. What's going on there? There's nothing attractive! And yet it's intended as self-promotion. I'm simply interested in understanding how B. Obama thinks and how he thinks his audience thinks. One thing is he seems completely uninterested in the traditional morality folks. That's something worth seeing and that's why I'm pointing it out.

Ann Althouse said...

But I'm less interested in his lack of attention to traditional morality than I am in his portrayal of his wife as demanding and controlling. As I said in the post, it's not sexy and it's not respectful (and it reinforces the right-wing idea of Michelle as someone who's really about control and not health and caring). Why does he think that's appealing to Vogue readers?

Really, he's not that sharp about Vogue readers, who are into the fantasy of themselves as upper middle class. He's trying to say: I identify with you because I go to Target. But Vogue readers aren't into the idea of themselves as shopping at Target!

It's a lot of misfiring. I find that amusing. Don't you?

Mike Schilling said...

As has already been pointed out, Obama was talking about the apartment he had in Washington DC when he was in the Senate. They had been married for 12 years.

rcommal said...

Althouse:

How about the notion that he's doing it because he can? And that he resents her, and for that reason, no matter what card she plays, he always can trump it by saying: "I am POTUS, something you are not and never will be."

And that is true, in every, single, solitary, whichever way.

OTOH, maybe he doesn't resent her. I think that's quite possible as well. Perhaps he's grateful. Maybe he's not. Whatever.

Regardless, stuck together they are.

rcommal said...

Which, having said that, may I go off on a tangent?

Which is: My-oh-my, it never ceases to amaze and amuse me how often so many who extoll the virtues of marriage take such great fun in tearing down the marriages of others. As if their own marriage hasn't required compromises and reconciliations. And also as if doing so doesn't call into question their own so-called reverent attitude toward Marriage. LOL. What the hell is it that you think you are actually accomplishing, being so all contradictory like that?

Anonymous said...

"AprilApple said...
There's no escape from Obama's cult of personality."

Only a sufferer of Obama Derangement Syndrome would believe it's a normal state of affairs for 70% of the people to hate the president.

Ann Althouse said...

"As has already been pointed out, Obama was talking about the apartment he had in Washington DC when he was in the Senate. They had been married for 12 years."

And he called it a "bachelor apartment"?!

Ann Althouse said...

I was only looking at the Daily News article, not Vogue.

Seriously, he said "bachelor's apartment" to refer to where he lived after he was married? Sorry I didn't know that when I wrote the post. I would have riffed on that.

Mike Schilling said...

It was the sort of small, crummy apartment you'd expect to be occupied by a single person, Michelle and the kids having stayed in Chicago. Riff away.

Now, are you going to correct the part of the post that's based on your misunderstanding?

Meade said...

from the Vogue cover story propaga... article:

“I don’t think it’s our job to put an idea to rest. Our job is, first and foremost, to make sure our family is whole. You know, we have small kids; they’re growing every day. But I think we were both pretty straightforward when we said, ‘Our number-one priority is making sure that our family is whole.’ ”

Unfortunately, for nearly everyone, history will show Mr. and Mrs. Obama having allowed their conflicting personal ambitions to mess up his messy unwhole presidency.

Left, right, and middle, few will remember it as having been a success though some might remember that it was tidy... thanks to Mrs. Obama.

rcommal said...

@Mike Schilling:

In what ways do you think it a bad thing that U.S. Senators or even Representatives live in crappy apartments? Especially if a good chunk of the reason that this is so is that they're maintaining, for the benefit of their families, the home in which their families are living and the place from which they've managed to project themselves into Washington, D.C. and with and given all that such a thing entails.

FWIW, I think people spend too much time here attacking how other people think and not enough time thinking through, all the way through, not just for themselves, but also by their own selfs.

Mike Schilling said...

I don't think it's a bad thing at all. "Small and crappy" is my take on why Obama called it a "bachelor apartment".

Mike Schilling said...

It's been a day now, and still no correction of what Ms. Althouse knows to be a falsehood. If this blog's author doesn't care about its accuracy, I suppose it's foolish for me to, or to waste any more time reading it.

CJColucci said...

CJC, maybe you could get some help with your sentence fragments. Scroll up. Perhaps the Dark Avenger could help you. He's male and he's occupied as a tutor in the field of education. I learned that by reading his user profile.

Wait. Never mind. Unfortunately, I just went to his website. It appears he himself needs help, laying out his website and spelling the word "hypocrisy". Can you help him? Thanks, CJ.

Meade, you must have been horribly abused by some semi-literate schoolmarm who taught you that sentence fragments are a total no-no. And that no sentence should ever begin with "and." But actual grown-up writers know better -- and even begin sentences with "but" now and then. Of course, some of us have, and even live out, schoolteacher discipline fantasies. Enjoy.