Remember this racist asshat?
That's an NPR clip from a veterans convention—the American Legion stuff my dad used to attend. It's certainly not VoteVets or Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Anyway, it's a short audio clip, but if you jump ahead to about the 30-sec. point you'll hear "Bobbi," the wife of a vet, say this about the Obamas:
I just … I don’t like him. Can’t stand to look at him. I don’t like his wife, she’s far from the First Lady. It’s about time we got a First Lady in there that acts like a First Lady and looks like a First Lady.
Gangster Octopus posted a diary last week about this obnoxious clip, and it's bounced around in my noggin since then. Yeah, there's racism in the tea party crowd, but to express it in such an unvarnished way to a national audience! But then Bobbi probably doesn't even recognize the bigotry underneath her comment.
And then ... last night.
How to act and look like a First Lady
"Acts like a First Lady"? An accomplished law school grad working on behalf of military families, fighting childhood obesity, sharing nature's magnificence with children, defending Pell Grants and other educational opportunities, speaking for the civil rights of all people regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, raising two very grounded daughters who are "taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect." Yeah, we can't be having that. What are you up to with your life, Bobbi?
"Looks like a First Lady"? Beautiful, classy, healthy, happy, and strong. Nope, won't do because, psst, in case you didn't notice, she's black.
I couldn't help but think of Bobbi's crackpot comment last night, and while I doubt she watched Michelle Obama's speech, I hope one of her friends saw it and then whispered in Bobbi's ear when all the old crotchety farts weren't listening: "Ya know, this ain't Ozzie & Harriet anymore, where the only black or Latino characters are gardeners or handymen, where all the women (white of course) spend their days cleaning house in dresses and heels, where the Week's Big Problem is Ricky's zit the night of the dance."
If you want to see what a First Lady acts and looks like, Bobbi, Google "Michelle Obama."