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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
V0IV0D
Published Letters: 11 Editor's Choice: 1
Looking at Michelle Obama I have many impressions- I am struck by her smile, her intelligence, her obvious love for her husband.
Not once has it occurred to me to try and size up her "booty factor"- its disrespectful to her, and as others have said, it seems to harken back to the ugly old stereotype from plantation days, wherein black women are to be assesed first, if not only, in terms of their desirability as a tool for sex.
It sounds ugly, small-minded and demeaning coming from anyone- I dont care if you have the "proud black woman" bona fides.
Any chance we can get a picture of your ass posted and start a forum on its social signifigance?
"...from what is known about the Obamas, what do you think their reaction to this would be?"
From what Ive seen, theyve been amazingly good sports, considering over the last several weeks the POTUS-elect has been accused of "palling around with terrorists", being a marxist/communist, and has had many blood-chilling epithets made in his regard.
Perhaps that is the point- in the same way that "Palin fatigue" has set in for the vast majority of Americans, maybe the Obamas would like to take a week or two off from being the country's ciphers. Is there nothing so miniscule about them that it doesnt warrant scrutiny?
"...as Rob Halford would say, I'm offended by your offendability."
I happen to like that line a lot, and find it endlessly applicable when confronting the puritanical zealotry of the far right; it is perhaps less applicable towards a group of people who would just as soon leave some aspects of the Obamas' life free of hyper-analysis, and I would humbly submit that the characteristics of Michelle's posterior fall within those parameters.
"The serious theme underlying this article is the way black bodies have been sexualized, exploited and abused throughout history."
I think the statement above greatly over-intellectualizes the historic power dynamic between blacks & whites in the U.S.- there was/is no quasi-mystical power in big black female buttocks- they were simply available to white men whenever the whim struck and could be taken with no recourse available to the woman being assaulted.
Mythologizing the black female form negates a very simple, very ugly truth- for too long black women were seen merely as a warm moist expedient receptacle for a white man's penis in a time of momentary lust, and absolutely no further thought was put into it than that, other than where was the nearest brush to drag her in to.
That is the ugly history we are trying desperately to put behind us, and it is the history that we must again confront on some level when faced by an article like that written by Kaplan- yes, it makes we tight-assed liberals extremely uncomfortable, and perhaps it is from that which Kaplans draws at least some of her "joy"...
Well, if nothing else, this little maelstrom has proved to me that a full 80% of Joan Walsh's readership can run intellectual circles around her all day long.
I hope she has a fridge and coffee-maker under her desk- she's sure been hiding under there long enough...
"(There's a reason the Brits tell us Yanks we don't 'get' irony. :-D)"
-- galleymac
To any and all blacks out there- do you find Monty Python funny? I'm multi-ethnic, and only "get" half the humor, so, is there like, some kind of correlation there? Help me out with this...
No disrespect intended towards Senator Clinton, but throughout her public life, it has always been apparent that domestic policy was her first love. Within that sphere she would be stellar, I'm sure.
Trouble is, anything short of V.P. or Sec. of State wouldnt be enough of a "prestige appointment"- meaning her podigious ego is, implicitly at least, part of the decision matrix.
To paraphrase a line from an old movie, Obama, because of his ethnic baggage, has to do it "twice as clean" as a white guy in the same position- meaning every one of his cabinet picks have to be brilliant, and free of any hint of patronage, cronyism or political log-rolling.
On a more personal note, HRC forever tainted her image in my mind with that ludicrous bullshit about braving "sniper fire" in Bosnia. It takes that unique, over-the-top brand of Clinton psychopathy to try and float such a mind-boggling lie, particularly when there were cameras and eyewitnesses at the ready to refute her.
The day she can square away that truly bizarre episode is the day she gets serious consideration from me regarding one of Obama's most critical cabinet positions.
"No one is more prepared to be Secretary of State than Senator Clinton. "
You seem to be precluding one very obvious and, in my mind, a "brilliant" choice.
Bill Clinton.
Question is, would he take the position?
First, its by Denis Leary; second, its barely went to press and already the pitchfork brigade is howling about it. Third- he makes fun of sick little kids. Mmmm...chewy Swiftian goodness soon to follow...
So few people understand good satire- the GOOD stuff, that, even when you brace yourself for it, makes you inhale your bagel and hit the floor in convulsions. That was the great thing about being a fifteen year old kid and sitting down with a copy of National Lampoon- you were too fucking stupid to understand half of it, which meant you doubled your fun- you do your first read-through and have a good cackle at all the jokes about niggers, kikes, and cripples, then, a few years later, read the same issue over again and stroke your chin and nod knowingly at all the evicserating political commentary on Darth Reagan.
Yup- satire at its best is the gift that keeps on giving...
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
