Sit on It and Spin

Sit on It and Spin updated

Bill O’Reilly is an idiot. What a
destructive remark. Not only because it digs into an old wound, but it also
takes attention away from something that matters. That is, the damage to Democrats
when anyone lets fly a remark like what Michelle Obama said on Monday. As you
see in the short response above, she’s now clarified her remark. There’s
only one problem. She talks about what she said without understanding what was
actually needed from her in a clarification. Now I realize that just
by criticizing Mrs. Obama, I’m a bad liberal. That it’s wrong to take offense
at this stuff, you know, because patriotism isn’t something “good”
liberals criticize their own on because it (ahem) plays into right-wing
talking points. (Mind you, I came to Obama’s defense on the whole flag pin kerfuffle.) Well, when a Democrat makes a verbal blunder that plays into
old stereotypes, then makes a clarification that doesn’t come close to neutralizing
the original comment, this America loving liberal is going to say something.
Now, before you hit the eject button, I’m not saying Michelle Obama doesn’t
love her country or isn’t proud of it. I’m saying she doesn’t know how to say
she is and is evidently only capable of being defensive about herself, instead
of correcting the gaffe. Already MSNBC has splashed a headline wondering if
Michelle Obama is a “liability.” The Teresa Heinz-Kerry treatment
has begun and Mr. Obama isn’t even the nominee yet. Some McCain 527 is likely
readying a negative ad as we speak.

What Michelle Obama should have said has nothing to do with a clarification
of her previous remark. She needed to say something really simple, with
a smile, by the way: I’m very proud of my country. What I said didn’t
come out right. Then she could add whatever flair or clarification
she wanted from there. But she didn’t.

What’s equally pathetic is that some Democrats don’t understand why what Michelle
Obama originally said is insulting to many of us. The dimwitted actually believe
that by criticizing Mrs. Obama we’re saying our country can do no wrong. That’s
how ignorant some liberals are about patriotism. It’s what many of us have been
fighting to reverse about the Democratic party since Vietnam. News flash for
the dense: anything that plays into a perceived stereotype, rightly or wrongly,
enforces a negative narrative Democrats can’t afford in the general election.
If you don’t understand how the GOP uses these things against Democrats then
you didn’t learn the lesson from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Oh, and
by the way, they always end up working in the end.

Besides Mrs. Obama’s clarification, Barack Obama has now come out to defend
his wife, in an effort to explain
her remark away:

Barack Obama, interviewed on WOAI radio in San Antonio, Texas, expressed frustration that his wife’s comments became political fodder. “Statements like this are made and people try to take it out of context and make a great big deal out of it, and that isn’t at all what she meant,” Obama said. “What she meant was, this is the first time that she’s been proud of the politics of America,” he said. “Because she’s pretty cynical about the political process, and with good reason, and she’s not alone. But she has seen large numbers of people get involved in the process, and she’s encouraged.”

This is spin of the highest order. It’s also infuriatingly insulting, because
Obama turns his wife’s remarks into our fault. You silly Americans.
It’s nothing, really.

For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country…
..

That’s not the whole sentence, but what the Obamas and others don’t understand
is that everything beyond that point in Mrs. Obama’s statement turned to noise,
because the first part was so jarring. That’s the way these things work in politics.
If Obama is the nominee he will find this out come the general election.

People can call me any name they want to, but this Harry Truman Missourian
calls it as I see it. When it becomes “right-wing” to take offense
at some callous Democrat making insulting statements about this country, Democrats are going to find themselves in trouble again. When her
husband, a potential Democratic nominee, then throws it in my face by insinuating
we’re the ones misconstruing his wife’s comments, well, I know what condescension
looks like and, baby, this is it.

UPDATE: Greg Sargent has Mrs. Obama’s remarks in Rhode Island. It’s hit and miss, and a missed opportunity, as far as I’m concerned.