Exciting New Horizons In Obama Derangement Syndrome

The right wing despises Michelle Obama exponentially more than they ever cared about Hillary Clinton.

Before today, when the right-wing media made up quotations to attack progressives, they at least had some audio to misinterpret. But now, they are reduced to lip-reading.

The Washington Times' senior editorial writer for foreign affairs James Robbins and right-wing bloggers are claiming that Michelle Obama likely disparaged the American flag during a ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks.

They have posted video of Michelle Obama whispering something inaudible to her husband during the ceremony and are speculating that she said "all this just for a flag," "all that for a flag," or "all of this for a damn flag." (They disagree on exactly what she said.)

Blogger Jim Hoft, still in the running for the Dumbest Man on the Internet, didn't even have the confidence to type the fake Michelle Obama quotation himself. He instead provided a link to an American Thinker post making the accusation for him.

But Debbie Schlussel takes the cake:

I can't really tell for sure, but a number of people are abuzz about this video of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Hussein Obama Idi Amin Dada. The consensus seems to be that the First Ms. Thang is saying to hubby Barack, "All of this for a damn flag." (She said this about the American flag -- you know the one brave men died for.) Wouldn't be surprised if that's what she said because we know she hates America and previously said she wasn't proud of our country until Obama had a chance to become Prez. Looks like that's what she said, but I can't tell for sure. I would need a deaf person or other expert lip reader to confirm. Watch and see if you agree (like I said, even if she didn't say exactly that, we know she's thinkin' it).

But no, if you point out that this foul invective is racially motivated, you're the evil racist in the room.  Can anyone ever tell me in eight years if Laura Bush was attacked like this?

Exciting New Horizons In Obama Derangement Syndrome

Michelle Obama had a burger, fries, and a Diet Coke at Shake Shack in DC yesterday.  Not only is this Washington Post worthy news, that came as a surprise to some, but it makes her an elitist socialist pig who ate a meal that required two hand trucks to deliver, making her a big hypocrite, so let's get back to pretending what a hottie she is.

Boy remember eight years of people telling Laura Bush that she was fat and hated Christians and bought shoes and was way above her station and also basically the worst person on Earth?

Oh wait, sorry, all Wingers hating on Michelle Obama again.  My bad.  Hey, she should just toughen up and take the abuse like Laura Bush...never had to put up with.

I'd Say This Was The Pot Calling The Kettle Black, But That Would Insulting Pots, Kettle, And Black

El Rushbo, still keeping it classy.

Michelle Obama is taking heat from talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh after a report in the Vail Daily that she consumed a not-so-healthy-meal of ribs for dinner while on a recent visit to the Colorado resort, the latest example of conservative angst directed at the first lady's healthy-eating initiative.


"The problem is, and dare I say this, it doesn't look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice," Limbaugh said Monday on his radio program. "And then we hear that she's out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving."

"She is a hypocrite," Limbaugh continued. "Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we are supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we are supposed to eat roots, berries, and tree bark, show us how."

The Vail Daily reported Sunday Mrs. Obama dined at the restaurant Kelly Liken in Vail Village, ordering "a pickled pumpkin salad with arugula and a braised ancho-chile short rib with hominy wild mushrooms and sautéed kale." The first family, minus the president, went to Colorado for a long weekend of skiing.

I'm going to say "Not only was she on vacation, she worked it off skiing" which is more physical exercise than the Oxycontinfather ever gets in his chair all day, but to me that just seems like common sense to most Americans.  You know, diet and exercise.

Well, minus the Americans with the irrational hatred towards the First Lady, at any rate.  Kinda weird, I don't remember this kind of thing happening four years ago.

Said it before, I'll say it again, not all Obama Derangement Syndrome is directed at the President.

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Tbogg flags down the wingers blaming an increase of pedestrian deaths on...wait for it...I SAID WAIT FOR IT...

...on Michelle Obama wanting you to walk more.

No, really.

The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady's program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.

Governors Highway Safety Administration spokesman Jonathan Adkins told 630 WMAL that Michelle Obama is "trying to get us to walk to work and exercise a little bit more.  While that's good, it also increases our exposure to risk."

Apparently Michelle Obama wanting Americans to eat healthier is responsible for a rash of choking on baby carrots, her asking Americans to cut down on smoking has in turn caused a unchecked growth in tobacco plant monsters rampaging around the Carolina hills murdering people, and wanting kids to eat better school lunches has caused a dangerous overflow in our country's storage capacity for little rectangular pizzas, causing spontaneous grease fire combustion across the country.

This isn't "one plus one equals two" it's "one plus one equals Dostoevsky and sulfuric acid pie with extra purple."  This is literally the definition of the phrase "correlation does not equal causation".

Of course, Jim Hoft totally believes this anyway.

As Cynical As They Wanna Be

First lady Michelle Obama weighs in on the Tuscon shooting as a mother and finds a message of hope.

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well.  The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have – and they don’t lend themselves to easy answers.  But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons – about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis.  And we can help them do that in their own small way – whether it’s by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We can teach them the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us.  We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.

Ann Althouse sums up the winger response to this message of tolerance:

Shouldn't we learn to be perceptive, analytical, and aware that some of the individuals among us are, in fact, mentally sick and need something other than tolerance and wishful thinking about how good they might be? So why is the First Lady telling us to teach kids the opposite?

If you're still puzzled by such a cynical reaction as this is, this makes perfect sense if you remember wingers like to look at liberalism, with its basic tenets of tolerance, inclusiveness and togetherness, as a mental disease.  And as far as building an America that Christina Taylor Green would have been proud to have contributed to through civil service, Althouse takes a steaming dump on that notion, too.

It would make more sense to teach creationism instead of evolution than to teach these wishful lies about government since children need to learn how to be effective citizens and lulling them into passive admiration of the government undermines the democratic process. Believing or not believing in creationism, by contrast, isn't going to change what happened in the grand expanse of evolutionary time. 

The First Lady is teaching our children wishful lies about government!   Remember when Laura Bush was attacked for the same thing after 9/11?  Oh wait, didn't happen.  Wonder why.   Tolerance:  more dangerous than creationism.

Instead, we should teach our kids to focus on the differences, identify those who possess those differences as possible threats, and to keep a "critical eye" upon them. Other people aren't to be trusted, government sure as hell is not to be trusted.  Look out for Number One, just watch out you don't step in number two, as Rodney Dangerfield once said.  That of course brings up this now infamous observation about Galtism and kids from Rogers at Kung-Fu Monkey:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. 

Meanwhile, the wingers keep insisting the best way to put an end to "the climate of hate nonsense" is to attack the First Lady of the United States for her message of tolerance.

Nice guys.

You're A Hard Habit To Break

The President's spokesman says POTUS has kicked the smoking habit for good this time.

The president may have kicked his smoking habit once and for all. It has been about nine months since the president's last cigarette, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" set to air Sunday, Gibbs said he still chews Nicorette, but that the president used "stubborn willpower" to stop.

"It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of the health care and with his two daughters in mind," Gibbs told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

Gibbs also said this is the longest period, in the almost eight years he's known the president that he's gone without smoking. 

Pretty good Christmas present/early New Year's resolution for himself and his family if you ask me, especially given the job he has.   Clinton and Bush, Jr. tried to stay in shape too in the Oval Office, Bush admittedly being more successful on that end.

We'll see if the younger Obama can keep up.  I'd put any of the last three Presidents against Michelle Obama on a fitness test however.  I'd bet on her.

Fantastic Voyage To Nowhere

So I get up this morning, I'm all happy because I have an extra hour, I can go down to Panera and get some bagels, and I open my browser just to check the world, and Dana Milbank completely ruins my day with his Fantasy Political Football column where he wonders if Hillary would have gotten beat up like Obama did as President last Tuesday.

Would unemployment have been lower under a President Hillary? Would the Democrats have lost fewer seats on Tuesday? It's impossible to know. But what can be said with confidence is that Clinton's toolkit is a better match for the current set of national woes than they were for 2008, when her support for the Iraq war dominated the campaign.

Back then, Clinton's populist appeal to low-income white voters, union members and workers of the Rust Belt was not enough to overcome Obama's energized youth vote. But Clinton's working-class whites were the very ones who switched to the Republicans on Tuesday.

Back in '08, Clinton's scars from HillaryCare were seen as a liability, proof that she was a product of the old ways of Washington. But now that Obama has himself succumbed to the partisanship, his talk of a "growth process" in office makes Clinton's experience in the trenches look like more of an asset.

Clinton campaign advisers I spoke with say she almost certainly would have pulled the plug on comprehensive health-care reform rather than allow it to monopolize the agenda for 15 months. She would have settled for a few popular items such as children's coverage and a ban on exclusions for pre-existing conditions. That would have left millions uninsured, but it also would have left Democrats in a stronger political position and given them more strength to focus on job creation and other matters, such as immigration and energy.

The Clinton campaign advisers acknowledge that she probably would have done the auto bailout and other things that got Obama labeled as a socialist. The difference is that she would have coupled that help for big business with more popular benefits for ordinary Americans. 

Just...really, Dana?  Really?

Unless Hillary could have gotten a significantly larger stimulus, the answer is she'd be in the same boat.  The GOP would have blocked her every move, Evan Bayh and Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman would have jerked her around, and instead of birthers we'd have Clinton truthers refighting every stupid thing from 1997.  Instead of pushing Obama's race to separate white working-class men in the Rust Belt from the Democrats, the GOP would have pushed gender fears instead.  Rush wouldn't be making racist jokes, just misogynist ones.

Sarah Palin would still be throwing around her Mama Grizzly scat everywhere, the distractions of Michelle Obama, woman with Big Arms and Food Police, would be replaced with Hey What's First Dude Bill Doin'?  Hillarycare would still be Hillarycare and not have gotten passed at all, we'd still have firebaggers because of that (Hillary wasn't progressive enough arrrrrgh!), energy and immigration still would have gotten blocked and we'd still be in the same damn mess we are right now.

No difference.  Oh and the youth vote still wouldn't have turned out.

And the most important difference is that Milbank would be writing a fantasy column about what would of happened if Obama had been President instead of Hillary.

Off to get bagels.

Piling On The First Lady

With news that Michelle Obama is still popular with a majority of Americans came out this month, the Wingnut right had to do everything they could to reverse it, from Glenn Beck...

On the October 14 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Show, Beck invoked the horror film The Omen while attacking Michelle Obama for her comments. Beck said, "I've never heard that. I've never heard that from a Christian -- I'm not questioning her Christianity, here." Later, executive producer Steve "Stu" Burguiere said, "Thank you, Michelle Obama. Creating jobs." Beck replied, "Jobs? Spooky phrases."

...to Michelle Malkin...

"Keeping the spirits clean around us?" Huh? She sounds like the liberal caricature of Christine O'Donnell. Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble.

As for the "prayer circles" and "Everybody I know in our communities is praying for us" and "we're all proud of Barack and his accomplishments" jabber, have the Obamas learned nothing about the price of arrogance and the value of humility over the last two years.

Question: Does Michelle O ever pray for anyone other than Barack?

...to El Rushbo...

"I've never heard of prayer circles and keeping the spirits clean around us. I mean, I've been praying for things like my family and friends' health, the country, things of this nature, and now I learn that we're supposed to be praying for the hygiene of the spirits?"

 ...to Moose Lady...

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin seemed to have the 2008 election – and, specifically, first lady Michelle Obama – on her mind during a speech at a conservative forum Thursday night.


"You know, when I hear people say, or had said during the campaign that they've never been proud of America, haven't they met anybody in uniform yet?" Palin opined during her remarks at a Liberty and Freedom Foundation forum in San Jose, California. 

...to Matt Drudge.

Did Michelle Obama violate Illinois election law?

The question arose after the first lady, who voted early at her Chicago precinct Thursday, responded to voters who voiced support for her husband. It’s unlawful in the state to have a “political discussion” or engage in “electioneering” within 100 feet of a polling place.

A pool report by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Abdon Pallasch said Obama had a photo taken with electrician Dennis Campbell, 56 years old. It quoted Campbell as saying, “She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband’s agenda going.”

Boy, do you remember all the nasty, vicious, mean-spirited attacks Democrats made on Laura Bush?

Me either.  They didn't happen.  But if you're a Democrat in the White House, your spouse is fair game.  As I've said a few times before, not all Obama Derangement Syndrome is directed at Barack.  You'd think Wingers would have something better to do, but alas, they have no human souls.

Not All Obama Derangement Syndrome Is Aimed At Barack

It's all about his wife, too.

Tom Tancredo isn't going away. The former congressman and one-time presidential candidate may have upended the Colorado gubernatorial race with his third-party run, but he's still not shy to air his controversial views on national issues. In a phone interview with TPM, Tancredo discussed the gubernatorial race, the Cordoba House project, and what he really fears about Obama. He also referenced a long-standing urban legend about the Obamas' supposed war on Christmas.

"I remember a little thing, like Ms. Obama saying she didn't want any Christian artifacts in the White House during Christmas time," Tancredo said. Another problem, Tancredo said, is "hosting Ramadan events there."

Tancredo's recitation of the urban myth about Michelle Obama disdaining Christmas is just one of several instance of Tancredo ascribing an otherness to the Obamas.

Boy I remember when those mean, nasty liberals completely ripped into Laura Bush for wanting kids to be healthier and for showing knowledge of religions other than Christianity, called her "food police" and "political correctness maven" and all that...

...oh wait, except Laura Bush and the Bush family were out of bounds, unlike Democratic presidents and their families.  Funny how that works.

Last Call

The latest Winger Poutrage?

"How DARE Michelle Obama go on vacation to Spain when there's 9.5% unemployment!?!?  How dare she take a vacation outside the United States like an America-hating liberal!  Where does she get the idea that she's allowed to pay for her own vacation when everyone knows the First Lady is just an opinion-free adjunct to the President?  The nerve of women like her!  You should hate her!  Are YOU getting to go to Spain?  No?  Why should she?  She works for US!"

Not all Obama Derangement Syndrome is directed at Barack, folks.  And this is mild compared to what's coming.

Books Are For Balancing On Your Head

Via TBogg, I don't know what offends the Wingers more, the fact that Michelle Obama has books about Socialism in her library or the fact that a black woman can read.

I arrived in Washington DC today to cover CPAC and since I was in town, and since CPAC doesn’t really get rolling until tomorrow, I tagged along with some Scott Hennen Show listeners on an extensive tour of the White House as part of the Common Sense Travel Club. One of the stops on the tour (which was wonderful by the way) was the White House library.

Now, according out the person who guided our tour, the library is stock with books picked out by the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Being a bit of a bibliophile, I started to peruse some of the books on the shelves…and lookie, lookie what I found (click for a larger view):

Wingers really, really despise knowledge used for any purpose. Period.

Be A Winner In The Game Of Life

Gallup's 2009 list of political winners and losers is out, and topping the list is Michelle Obama, Hillary, Sonia Sotomayor, and President Obama.

They were followed by Helicopter Ben, Glennsanity, Moose Lady, San Fran Nan, Harry Reid, The Entire GOP House Contingent, Joe "You Lie!" Wilson, Gov. Mark "Don't Lie For Me, Argentina" Sanford and coming in dead last, those obnoxious White House party crashers.

Interesting factoid:

45% of Republicans thought Hillary was a winner in 2009.  Those guys should get together with the 21% of Democrats who loved them some Moose Lady, and they should trade hugs.

A Googleplex Of Fools

Considering Google has no problems censoring free speech in China, it seems to have rather dropped the ball on its search engine leading to a rather ugly racist image of Michelle Obama.

For most of the past week, when someone typed "Michelle Obama" in the popular search engine Google, one of the first images that came up was a picture of the American first lady altered to resemble a monkey.

On Wednesday morning, the racially offensive image appeared to have been removed from any Google Image searches for "Michelle Obama."

Google officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Google faced a firestorm of criticism over the episode. First, it banned the Web site that posted the photo, saying it could spread a malware virus. Then, when the image appeared on another Web site, Google let the photo stand. When a Google image search brought up the photo, an apologetic Google ad occasionally appeared above it.

The ad redirected users to a statement from Google which read, "Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google."

The California-based company then explained that search results rely on computer algorithms that take into account thousands of factors.

"The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results," it said.

The company said that the integrity of its search results is extremely important.

"Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it."

No, but you've got no problem removing pages from your search results if Chinese officials tell you to censor it.  Ugly racist stuff?  That's fine. Good call, Google.  Real classy.

I'll Have What She's Having

Michelle Obama will be on Iron Chef America, showing off the real star of the show, the White House's organic garden.

Michelle Obama is to be the first presidential wife to appear on a reality TV series.

The First Lady will make a guest appearance on 'Iron Chef America' which features British cook Nigella Lawson as a judge.

The episode of the popular series, which pits well-known chefs against each others, has been filmed at the White House and will be aired in the New Year.

Many of the ingredients for the meals prepared in the show were chosen from the recently planted White House vegetable garden.

Seems like a good way to promote healthy eating habits to me. Surely if Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, or Nancy Reagan did it, it would be wonderful. But since this is Michelle Obama, she's already being attacked as "tacky" and "overexposed" by the right. It doesn't matter what she does, it's bad and wrong and stuff. Imagine, the First Lady trying to promote eating vegetables! Such fascism!

Welcome to the Winger's own reality show, now in its third year: Obama Derangement Syndrome: The Series.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Whatever happened to "these people" being all fat, lazy welfare queens? Now the complaint is "these people" are too healthy and are unfairly harshing melanin-challenged America's sugar buzz, apparently.

There really isn't anything the Obamas can do, Barack, Michelle, Sasha and Malia, that Wingers will not complain about, even if it's exactly what Saint Ronaldus Magnus, Destroyer Of Communism would approve of.

(h/t Teh Rumpeez)

The Big Guns On Chicago 2016

Obama's pulling out his heavy ordnance for bringing the Olympics to Chicago in 2016: Oprah and the First Lady.

Michelle Obama began the day today with a very important meeting with the president. But it wasn't President Obama she was meeting. It was Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, and probably one of the most sought-after leaders in the sports world this week.

The first lady is leading the U.S. delegation to bring the 2016 Olympic games to Chicago, with some star athletes by her side, and not to mention some very high powered help.

"I'm sort of an ambassador, am I not?" A laughing Oprah Winfrey said. "I've appointed myself ambassador for Chicago."

Mrs. Obama has likened the trip to the presidential campaign. From the moment her feet touched the ground here in Denmark, the first lady has been in campaign mode, lending her clout to Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

"We are fired up and ready to go," she said at a welcome reception for Chicago boosters, employing a familiar phrase President Obama has used on the campaign trail.

Take THAT, Brazil. Oprah!

And the GOP continues to complain about this. They'll complain right up until Chicago wins, give it a day, and start complaining again the day after the announcement.

Chicago's bid is drawing protests at home, with some saying the games will bankrupt the city's economy, rather than helping it grow. Tom Tresser, who runs "No Games Chicago," is among those.

"It's the wrong project for the wrong city at the wrong time," he said. "We think the bills are going to go through the roof and the taxpayers will be soaked."

Experts say the economic impact is positive when the games are held, but the large investments that have to go into infrastructure can add up.

"If we're trying to sell the games on the economic boost it provides the economy, I think that it is a straw," said Robert Baade, a professor of economics at Lake Forest College in Chicago and president of the International Association of Sports Economists. "But if we sell the games on what it might do for a city psychologically, that is a much more compelling argument."

In Washington, critics are panning Obama's decision to fly to Copenhagen Friday for a brief trip to persuade the judges that Chicago should be the next site.

"Now the president is going to go to Copenhagen when we've got serious issues here at home that need to be debated," House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters Wednesday. "I think it's a great idea to promote Chicago, but he's the president of the United States, not the mayor of Chicago."

The president will be on the ground for merely three hours, long enough to headline the final presentation and make the final pitch to undecided IOC members, like Ung Chang, who has been an IOC member for the last 13 years.

When asked what can convince him of his vote, Chang replied, "Last presentation, that's important."

Which is funny, because if Bush were doing this instead of Obama, it would be a "new era of international diplomacy" for Republicans, and "showing the world what American elbow grease can do". Instead, because Obama is doing it, it's "soaking taxpayers."

The First Lady Joins The Obamacare Fight

Michelle Obama has entered the fray with a speech on how one of the major reasons the current health care system needs to be reformed is that it is a "crushing" level of responsibility that falls dispropotionately on women nationwide.

Michelle Obama said women are being “crushed by the current structure of our health care” because they often are responsible for taking care of family illnesses, arranging checkups and monitoring follow-up care.

“Women are the ones to do it,” she said to an audience of 140 people, including representatives from groups such as the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the National Council of Negro Women. “Mothers are the ones that do it. And many women find themselves doing the same thing for their spouses.”

Women also are more disproportionately affected by the lack of insurance options because they are more likely to work part-time or at small businesses that don’t provide coverage.

“It’s not surprising that so many millions of women are simply going without insurance at all,” Obama said.

And that's a valid point, especially the part-time work meaning no employer health coverage, and not every woman has a spouse to get health coverage from, as well. Plenty of single mothers forgo coverage for themselves to get coverage for their children, for example.

Naturally, the Wingers are snidely attacking the First Lady's speech, saying that Michelle Obama is merely playing the gender card, and of course there's the nasty little gremlin that wingers like to bring up saying that whenever you have a single mother situation, whatever the problem is has to be the single mother's fault for being a single mother and not having a man around...especially if the single mother is a minority.

Gosh, there hasn't been this level of disrespect for a First Lady since Hillary, I'd imagine. It's funny, because whenever a Republican First Lady champions women's rights, she's lauded by both the left and the right as a "living legend".

Michelle Obama merely gets brutally attacked.

The Obama Derangement Syndrome doesn't stop at just Barack, you know.

The Perils Of Mortality

Remember, in the era of unending liberal media that Obama controls with an iron fist, this qualifies as news:

After passing on dinner with the French president to go on a date in the City of Light with his wife last month, President Obama took leave of his Russian hosts on Tuesday night to seclude himself in his Moscow hotel with his wife, Michelle, and their daughters.

The first family enjoyed a relaxed evening at the O2 Lounge, the super-chic, super-pricey rooftop club at the new Ritz-Carlton, although no doubt the Secret Service first cleared the place of most if not all of the swaggering tycoons and leggy models who flock to such Moscow venues.

They could not ask for a more scenic vista. The glass-enclosed O2 offers a panoramic view of Moscow, including Red Square and the Kremlin, all the more striking as the lingering summer sun sets after 10 p.m. The club is “a place to see and be seen,” as its Web site says — that is, unless you are a visiting president who after a day and a half of blinis, beluga and bilats (the diplo term for “bilateral meetings”) just wants to hang out with the clan.

The decision to brush off the Russians on one of his two nights here miffed some in the Moscow government who did not understand why he would not devote the scarce time to his hosts. Mr. Obama had dinner with President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Monday and lunch with him on Tuesday. But with the second dinner slot unavailable, he ended up having breakfast Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, a known night owl not given to American-style early morning business meals.

The Obamas, though, wanted some downtime before getting back on Air Force One to head to Italy for three days of meetings at the Group of 8 summit meeting and, from there, to Ghana for a one-day visit.

Mr. Obama has seemed tired here, several times fumbling the pronunciation of Mr. Medvedev’s name and Mr. Putin’s title. Beginning a speech here, he mistakenly said he first met his wife in school instead of at the law firm where they actually met. And he misstated his younger daughter’s age.

You're supposed to infer that the President is either a gaff-prone buffoon or that he's just not up to being President. If you're really cynical, you're supposed to infer that it's good that President Uppity Black Man got knocked down a few pegs, proving he's mortal after all.

If you're like me however, you're supposed to infer that the Village media is full of idiots.

In Her Shoes

Michelle Obama apparently owns a $500 pair of shoes, which because she's not Laura Bush, is an unforgivable sin of epic proportions. Attacking the First Lady for her sneakers is about a stupid as judging John McCain for his taste in loafers or John Edwards's famous $400 haircut.

Remember kids, Obama Derangement Syndrome doesn't necessarily mean an insane reflexive irrational hatred for just Barack Obama.

Know Your Role And Shut Your Mouth

Here's Nia-Malika Henderson over at Politico (natch!) doing a great disservice to both African-Americans and to women by implying very strongly that Michelle Obama is above her station:

Traditional? Hardly. In fact, Obama’s approach so far is decidedly different from the usual model of the modern first lady — pick a platform of two or three issues and stick to it, by and large, for four years.

She’s become the spokeswoman for all sorts of issues and topics — from fitness, parenting, the environment and women’s rights, to redefining images of black women in American culture and promoting self-esteem for young girls.

Yet in the midst of all those themes, it isn’t yet clear whether her self-described core messages — about military families, volunteerism, and helping working women balance work and family life – are truly breaking through. Some wonder if she’s spreading herself too thin to emerge in the public mind as a leading voice on those topics.

Give me an almighty break. If Michelle Obama was nothing more than a feel-good accoutrement on the arm of the President, I swear conservatives would be attacking her for "not doing enough given all the problems facing the average American family these days".

Yet here we have an accomplished, intelligent African-American woman in her own right as First Lady and the charges leveled against her are "she's trying to do too much." That smacks of the code word "uppity", a double foul against a black woman, charges being tossed at her by another black woman, as it somehow makes it all okay.

It does not. Only at the end of the article does Nia-Malika Henderson grudgingly admit that the First Lady's approval ratings are in the mid-60's and that she's "connecting" with Americans.

Those Obamas. Trying to do too much in an age where Presidents and their spouses are apparently supposed to do nothing but demogogue and snatch at low hanging fruit.

New long overdue tags: Michelle Obama and Gender Stupidity.