Michelle Obama and Shakespeare

Introduction: My favorite Shakespeare line is the rub, however that is followed a close second by

thou dost protest a bit too much

and it is this line that I will reference when analyzing the latest dust up over Michelle Obama suggesting that she had never been proud of America before today.


The technical term for what Michelle Obama has said is a gaffe. At a campaign rally, Michelle Obama said this.

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

John McCain's wife quickly used a campaign appearance to lob a backhanded dig at Obama when she said this.

I am proud of my country,I don’t know if you heard those words earlier … but I am very proud of my country.”

Now, this slight dig seemed perfectly appropriate to me, however what I have witnessed the rest of the day appears to be nothing more than pile on and overkill. Just about every single Conservative anywhere is using this opportunity to question Obama's patriotism. Here is how Jonathon Last put it.

It was an extraordinary declaration for a 44-year-old woman. She expanded on it a bit later, claiming that "Life for regular folks has gotten worse over the course of my lifetime, through Republican and Democratic administrations. It hasn't gotten much better."

Do these comments provide a glimpse of her general political worldview--one that is surprisingly critical of America for the wife of a presidential candidate? Or do they suggest a certain narcissism about the Obamas and their view of themselves? Or both?

In many ways, Michelle Obama's stump speech is reminiscent of her husband's. She dwells at length on the issue of change and frequently talks in the idiom of political self-help. She worried that "We spend more time thinking about what can't be done, what can't change, what won't work. And the problem with that is that it cuts us off from one another in our own communities. It's cut us off from the rest of the world. And the sad part about it is we're passing on all these fears, this cynicism--we're passing it on to the next generation." "Everything," she explained, "begins and ends with a little bit of hope and a whole lot of dreaming."

Here is how Michelle Malkin put it...

Only her husband’s run for president has made her proud of America? That’s…extremely narcissistic and self-centered.

Nothing America has done in Michelle Obama’s adult life, which at 44 goes back 26 years to 1982, has made her proud of her country? Nothing? Not winning the Cold War? Not our regular and orderly transitions of power based on the rule of law? Not the fact that we feed and defend the world, not that we lead in science and

Here is how Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs put it.

I wasn’t shocked by the statement; it’s pretty standard “progressive” thinking. But it’s interesting to note that the person who said it is a graduate of Harvard Law School who has held many prestigious and highly paid professional positions, and has benefited enormously from living in a country of which she has never been proud.

These are the sort of echoes that can be found among many Conservatives and Republicans all over the media. Talk radio can't get enough of it for instance. I would warn my ideological cohorts to be careful with just how much this little episode is milked. Only Mrs. Obama knows what she meant to say, but I would bet that she misspoke and left a word or two out. I doubt very much that this is really the first time she is proud of America. I think this is the most she is proud of America. Either way, when we get into the hyperanalysis and hyperbole (there are those saying she insulted America and all it stands for) that are some are taking on over a throw away line in the middle of the campaign, I get reminded of the Shakespeare line...

thou dost protest a bit too much

It certainly seems as though some in the Conservative media are attaching more worth to a gaffe than it is necessarily worth. Once they do that some might ask why are they making such a big deal out of a few misspoken words. Some people might get the idea that conservatives don't have anything of substance to attack Obama with. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. There are plenty of substantive issues on which Obama could be legitimately attacked on. Those will all get lost of everyone is spending all their time hyperanalyzing a few lines from one speech from his wife. She made a gaffe. This is a legitimate story, and it should be covered. I just warn everyone to be mindful of the glee and intensity that they cover it with, or risk that it boomerangs back and gives undo and unneeded sympathy where it doesn't belong.