The Daily Background
| Cindy McCain’s attack on Michelle Obama backfires
by Arlen Parsa
As you probably remember, conservatives made a big deal out of the fact that Michelle Obama said “What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — 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.”
What she meant was (and it was clear in context), she was really proud of her country’s politics, not the country itself, as she later clarified. But naturally outlets like Fox News just played the edited down sound bite, suggesting that she was unpatriotic for only now being proud of her country.
As a result, Cindy McCain remarked (several weeks after Michelle had clarified her original comments), “I don’t know why she said what she said. Everyone has their own experience. I don’t know why she said what she said, all I know is that I have always been proud of my country.”
Was making a big deal out of Michelle’s distorted remarks really wise? Especially considering her husband’s prior remarks on the subject of being proud of one’s country? Check out what McCain has said about finally loving his country when he was captured in Vietnam at age 31:
“I didn’t really love America until I was deprived of her company.”
He said that in March. More recently he said while on the stump, “it’s tough, tough in some respects” to be proud of America. Check it out on video:
Now, does anybody really believe that McCain doesn’t care about his country? Of course not: to suggest so is silly. But this episode just illustrates that these type of past statements can very easily be taken out of context, which is why Cindy McCain and the rest of the right wing ought to stop doing it. It’s downright misleading, and hopefully people will see through this silliness.
You make some good points. bama should really be thinking is Brandover not makeover. A makeover is superficial and represents someone else’s vision being imposed on who you actually are. The problem with a makeover is that it rarely works for the long haul –and if we know anything about this particular presidential contest it’s all about the long haul. Not only that, cracks soon appear in the makeover because there’s a basic conflict between the truth of what’s being presented and what’s actually there. And this is the last thing you want to do, especially in the rough-and-tumble world of politics!