Baseball Crank: POLITICS: Michelle Antoinette and the Don't-Go-To-The-Mall Administration

May 1, 2009

POLITICS: Michelle Antoinette and the Don't-Go-To-The-Mall Administration

Michelle Obama, February 2008:

Obama explains that she and her husband made the choice to give up lucrative jobs in favor of community service. "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."

Michelle Obama, April 2009:

Michelle Obama has taken casual to a haute new level.
While volunteering Wednesday at a D.C. food bank, the First Lady sported her usual J.Crew cardigan, a pair of utilitarian capri pants and, on her feet, a sneaky splurge: trainers that go for $540.

That's right: These sneakers - suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps - are made by French design house Lanvin, one of fashion's hottest labels. They come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring.

They're out of stock at posh Meatpacking District boutique Jeffrey, and Barneys New York boasts a limited selection of the sneaks, which are a cult favorite among fashionistas.

It's likely Michelle got hers through Ikram, the Chicago retailer that often outfits her.

Michelle O! It goes without saying that a Republican First Lady who showed up at a food bank during a recession wearing $540 sneakers would never hear the end of it, let alone one who had lectured voters on learning to make do with less. But you know, it goes deeper than that. Remember how Barack Obama relentlessly mocked George W. Bush, in the tone of a petulant teenager who can't believe what Dad told him to do, for advising Americans to "go shopping" after September 11? Well, President Bush was absolutely in the right: the nation needed reassuring, and it needed to both sustain the consumer confidence and consumer demand that are the engines of our economy, and demonstrate to the world that we don't change our routines to satisfy terrorists.

Now, with consumer demand in the worst slump in most of our living memory, one of the things we need most of all from the White House is reassurance that it's OK to - you guessed it - go shopping. But President Obama, who has tiptoed up to that line a few times, can't quite bring himself to sound like Dad now that he's the one in the driver's seat. So, Michelle shops, while consumer demand drops. And then what happens? We get Joe Biden giving us the "we're all gonna diiiiiieeeeee" alarm on the Today Show, telling people that he'd advise his family to avoid malls, planes, and trains. It's OK if you go, mind you, but not Joe's family. So much for projecting calm in a crisis.

Somehow, no matter what the state of the U.S. economy, the Michelle Obamas in and around the government will always manage to get their fancy French sneakers. I don't begrudge them that - but I do wish they acted as if they felt the same way about the rest of us.

Posted by Baseball Crank at 10:20 AM | Politics 2009 | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Yeah, she feels proud about her country now.

Posted by: gpc31 at May 1, 2009 11:34 AM

I can't imagine wearing a pair of sneakers that cost $540. I'd be afraid to wear them. What if they got dirty?

I max out at about $80 for sneakers and shoes. Of course, I have one of those low-paying, public service jobs. :)

Posted by: MVH at May 1, 2009 12:30 PM

Michelle and Barack are full of shit. They didn't leave corporate jobs and eschew lucrative careers for low-paying social work. Obama got into politics cause that's where the money is. As soon as he got into a position of power in the Illinois state senate, he hooked up Her Ugliness with a politically connected position in a city hospital that paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars. Only in the illiberal cesspool of democratic politics could two affirmative-action incompetents like them find wealth and power, then claim they did it through honest hard work, and to help others!

Posted by: joe at May 1, 2009 1:13 PM

What a bunch of pathetic losers, led as always by the bottom-dwelling Crank.

Posted by: Magrooder at May 1, 2009 8:41 PM

So tell me Magrooder, since you once again ducked the issue by just insulting other posters, do you find the First Lady at least, just a little bit, to have shown less than sterling judgement in her self presentation? I've read your comments for quite some time, and you've never shown the guts or intellectual inclination to actually deal with the topic that has been presented.

If she'd never once said a word about how other people behave and just had pursued setting the best example she could, I don't think anyone would make a big deal about her stupid sneakers. Unfortunately, the fact is, she's shot her mouth off more than once. Now, take your best shot and actually articulate a relevant defense for what is charitably described as poor taste.

Remember, she's being criticized for being a hypocrite. In order for you to make sense, you have to make a rational argument that she is not a hypocrite, and you'll need to have some supporting facts.

Posted by: NRA Life Member at May 2, 2009 12:36 AM

Nice call-out of Magrooder! I bet he does not respond.

Posted by: Lee at May 2, 2009 9:54 AM

Hey has any of the mainstream media looked into the "First Lady's" former job and the raise she received after O'bumbler got an earmark (BTW he averaged 1million/PER DAY in earmarks during his time in the Senate) for her employer or how after she left they decided that they didn't need to refill her position. Its almost like the Obumblers received a payoff for the earmark he got her employer. Hope and Change we can believe in. Nothing to see here, just move along sheeple.

Posted by: dch at May 2, 2009 11:52 AM

"Nothing to see here, just move along sheeple."
dch,
Quit hijacking this thread. It's not about rule of law, justice, or holding those who torture accountable.

Posted by: Berto at May 3, 2009 12:05 PM

Lee, you lose.

Gun-Lover,

Exactly what "facts" am I to address? In the first quote, she accurately describes the job choices she and the President made and receommended the same to others. (By the way, nice rascism, Joe, and their money comes largely from book sale revenue. Would you prefer largess from Daddy's friends like W?) In the second quote, her wardrobe is described; all off the rack, except for her sneakers.

Your point is, what exactly? Hypocrisy? How? Where? Nothing in the forst quote says we should all shop at goodwill?

The envy on you wingnuts is truly unbecoming. Revealing. But unbecoming.

Posted by: Magrooder at May 3, 2009 4:52 PM

Thank you Magrooder. I asked you to do something besides insult people, and you seemed to have given it a shot. By the way, I do not envy you or the Obamas. I could not in a million years think of a more pitiable life than to be someone like any of the three of you.

Michelle Obama is a hypocrite because she and her husband have used class warfare as a means to power, but, by wearing overpriced footwear, she acts like one of the privileged people that her political party demonizes. If she did not agree with her husband's means or methods, she certainly would not have hung around for as long as she has, so circumstantial evidence indicates to me that she either agrees with his political principles, or that she is hoping to be cast as Kay Corleone in the remake of The Godfather.

By class warfare I specifically mean that her husband (and by extension Michelle Obama as well) has sought to turn one portion of this country against another. I'm going to go way out on a limb, and guess that the two of them have assumed the side of the poor and downtrodden for their journey into the hell of Marxism (see points 1,2,5,6 and 7 in The Communist Manifesto, I'm sure you have a copy to help you through your life). Just to show that I'm not blowing smoke, Point 1 would be covered by the hijacking of the banking system, GM and Chrysler. Bondholders can obviously just go to blazes.

So where do these stupid sneakers come into the picture? Frankly, if I wanted to knock the First Lady, I myself would have worked another angle. To be perfectly honest, I found the picture that Crank attached to not be germane to the sneakers, and it is included probably because it is unflattering and for no other reason (but it is his blog). However, the Obamas act is that they came from nothing, and even though they are at the top of the heap, they are still just plain folks. If you swallow that one, maybe you could play Kay Corleone instead of Michelle Obama. If that is how they want to be perceived, +$500 footwear is a poor choice for us rubes to see (as I said to you earlier).

One more thing. You seem to have some special distaste for GHWB helping GWB in a financial sense. Ground Control to Magrooder: That is what parents do for their children. My parents did what they could for me, and they did it on their own dime, just as GHWB. he made a pile of money in the oil business, and helped to set his son up in it. Big whoop.

Posted by: NRA Life Member at May 4, 2009 12:06 AM

Class warfare?
Some war that is. The rich won in a romp. The funny thing is, their biggest cheerleaders are on the losing end (see the Teabaggers, for instance).

Good point, NRA Life Member. The way to make it rich in this country is to be born into wealth. You'll get no argument from me (or any other honest person) on that point.

Posted by: Berto at May 4, 2009 6:21 PM