Michelle Obama should probably consider staying quiet for a while. John Podhoretz gives us the scoop:
Michelle Obama today said that “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction."...The truth is that some of these liberals don't really like the United States all that much. They see America as a sort of Babylon of capitalism. Anyone who takes note of the fact that capitalism (a.k.a. economic freedom) leads directly to greater prosperity for everyone--such as John Stossel (via Hugh Hewitt)--sees America rather as a Jerusalem of capitalism, but no matter. America is the great polluter (despite the fact that Europe's CO2 emissions levels are decreasing significantly less swiftly than America's), the great mistreater of the poor (our poor live as well as most people in Europe), the great theocratic world empire (laughable on its face).Mrs. Obama was speaking at a campaign rally, so it is easy to assume she was merely indulging in hyperbole. Even so, it is very revealing.
It suggests, first, that the pseudo-messianic nature of the Obama candidacy is very much a part of the way the Obamas themselves are feeling about it these days. If they don’t get a hold of themselves, the family vanity is going to swell up to the size of Phileas Fogg’s hot-air balloon and send the two of them soaring to heights of self-congratulatory solipsism that we’ve never seen before.
Considering that these folks seem to see America as a sort of Gomorrah, do we really want to give Barack Obama the job of defending us from people who sorta agree?
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