Please, Michelle Obama, just shut up. Michelle knows aboslutely nothing about miltary spouses and the challenges they face. She and her husband are both intelligent and high achieving but as far as I know neither one even considered military service. They would have made great military officers but they apparently had other priorities.

My son served 15 months in Iraq during the hottest fighting and will go back for another 12 months in January. What does she know about the stresses that faced his young wife, who was 21 when he deployed? I'll give her a clue: They are nothing like the stresses of being married to a US senator.

Don't insult military families by saying the Michelle Obama somehow understands what they go through. Holding up a pretty blue plan is not understanding what it is like. Please, Michelle, shut up.

Caring, deep and empathetic. I hope more people read this article. It seems like the Michelle Obama many of us know is somehow lost in this media-created caricature of a militant black activist.

Having talked to people who have met her, even Clinton and McCain supporters, they have all come away very impressed with having talked to her in person.

I hope she does more of these events and that they, eventually, get covered by the press.

Complaining doesn't make one un-patriotic or wrong. In fact just the opposite. She's right. The lack of care for military families is one of our greatest failures as a country. And something that ought to make everyone, dare Michelle say it, angry.

Carol H - your bitterness is badly misplaced. It should be directed at the chicken hawks who, evidence now clearly shows, lied us into the war your son is having to serve in, while his wife is having to endure without him. Those chicken hawks don't know what it's like for military families and they couldn't care less either, as they rake in their millions in war and oil profits.

Never once did Michelle say she knows what it's like for military families, but she can't feel empathy without causing you to implode? And even better, her husband will soon be in a position to help make their lives infinitely better by enacting sane and humane policies for our military. And you have a problem with that? Bet your son and daughter-in-law don't. They may not vote for Obama but I'm willing to bet they would welcome policies that will directly make their lives better. And that pisses you off...?

Well, ok then - vote for McCain so your son can stay in Iraq for 100 years. HE certainly doesn't care about the pain and difficulties inflicted on military families - hell, he dumped his first wife because she wasn't pretty any more after a disfiguring car accident. Now that's a change he apparently can believe in!

Aren't you the living embodiment of an awful disgrace.

(Arguably this is not connected to MO's visits, but the topic needs to be discussed.)

Over the years I have read numerous stories of veterans being mistreated. Especially I think of those who have PTSD and those whose brains are damaged by there having been close to an explosion. It strikes me that a significant proportion of them have not been awarded the disability that they merit.

I suggest that the next congress examine this and write new legislation that reopens old cases and that the incoming administration embrace it.

Would it cost a lot of money? You bet!

I'm sorry Carol H, but you are so misguided it's hard to even begin to understand where your anger comes from. Really, MIchelle Obama is to blame? Give me a break. How about the 8 years of criminal behavior that has led many a son and daughter to slaughter.

You should stop trolling the internet for others to blame and focus on what led your son to the situation he is in currently. He obviously signed up but that doesn't mean he (and you) have to pay for the mistakes of Bush and his horrible cronies. Rethink your attitude and consider that Barack Obama might be the answer to getting your son out of the hell hole that he and so many others find themselves.

propaganda

Thank You and have a Great Day!!

Hey Carol, no offense, but please don't pull the "I have a son in the military who has a wife who doesn't like Obama" card. Let's see, I can pull the "I have a wife, who put up with me in the service during Gulf One and she thinks Ms. Obama is the bee's knee's" card.

I think we cancel each other out, don't we? Now can we get on with talking about what the lady actually said?

From what I gather, Carol H is bitter because Hillary Clinton is not the presumptive Democratic nominee. In previous messages, she expressed the opinion that Barack Obama cannot win the Presidential election, and she is "depressed" because Democrats did not choose a candidate who is more electable. Apparently, she does not want McCain to win, but it sounds like she will not vote for Obama.

I have previously expressed the opinion that Hillary should run for President as an Independent if she and her supporters truly believe that she can win. That's what our democracy is all about. But I would say to them that if they can't have Hillary, they might as well support the person who has the best chance of beating the "white-haired dude" (as Paris Hilton calls him) unless they're so depressed that they don't care if things get even worse for everybody.

As for the topic at hand, I thought it was clear that Michelle Obama was allowing women from military families to speak at the "round table". In other words, she was listening to them, rather than presuming to speak for them. If Hillary ever sat down to listen to people like them (as a First Lady, a Senator, or a Presidential candidate), I never heard about it. Isn't it about time that someone did that? Michelle Obama deserves a great deal of credit, and I am astonished if women in military families are not positively grateful for what she did.

It's unfortunate that some people cannot see this for themselves, but Michelle Obama does not pretend that she knows what it's like to be a member of a military family. Far from it. Here's a quote from the article, in case you didn't read it:

"Obama says that given all the challenges that face ordinary folks with housing and healthcare and higher prices, "it makes it even more amazing to me to understand how you do it."

But since she cares about them, she presented the Obama campaign's "pretty blue plan" because they deserve a plan that finally does something besides prattle about "family values". (You know that "prat" means "ass", right?) That's what I call empathetic, and very far from "presumptuous".