Michelle Obama: Of Hypocrisy and Lipstick

On July 25, 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention. It was a full day later before I was able to see part of the video of her speech and to read the full transcript. I had heard a great deal of buzz about how great her speech was, and how she is the “ace in the hole” for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. How could anyone resist taking in a speech with such kudos as that?

I think we can easily say that Michelle Obama is good at delivering a speech. Her mechanics and timing were definitely on. Unfortunately, too much of her speech was the equivalent of trying to put lipstick on a pig. And if you managed to survive that portion of her speech, then the hypocrisy was thick enough to choke on.

Below is her speech reproduced by a transcript which can be found here (https://www.romper.com/p/transcript-of-michelle-obamas-dnc-speech-affirms-her-family-first-ethic-15022), along with commentary.

Thank you all. Thank you so much. You know, it’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought my husband should be president. Remember how I told you about his character and conviction? His decency and his grace. The traits that we’ve seen every day that he’s served our country in the White House.

Believe me, a good part of the nation finds it hard to believe it’s been eight years as well.

I also told you about our daughters. How they are the heart of our hearts, the center of our world. During our time in the White House, we’ve had the joy of watching them grow from bubbly little girls into poised young women. A journey that started soon after we arrived in Washington when they set out for their first day at their new school. I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just seven and ten years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men with guns. And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window, and the only thing I could think was: What have we done?

If only EVERY child had a bullet proof black SUV with a team of armed guards to transport them to and from school…especially in Chicago…

See, because at that moment, I realized that our time in the White House would form the foundation for who they would become. And how well we managed this experience could truly make or break them. That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight. How we urge them to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith. How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel, or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is: When they go low, we go high.

Perhaps if their father had not waited three years before showing his birth certificate the girls would not have had to have dealt with that. I feel for the Obama’s as to how hard it must be to raise children in the middle of all of that political chaos. However, would it not have been better if their father had simply produced his birth certificate when the matter first came up? It’s very hard to have sympathy for those who shoot themselves in the foot.

And I think it is a great thing to teach your kids about hateful language that they hear on TV. We’ve seen how their father has a habit of accusing white police officers of indiscretion and misconduct motivated by race within hours of anything being reported on the news, and LONG before any facts could have been gathered. That is its own form of hate speech, and sadly, law enforcement officers have paid the price for his poor judgement.

Perhaps if you explained to your children what a “bully” is, they’d have a better understanding of the concept and would be better prepared to cope with it. It’s really quite easy to explain. You see, once upon a time there was this emperor who was duped into going out into public without wearing any clothes. As it turned out, the only man who had the guts to tell the Emperor that he was naked was labelled a “bully”…and that’s where the term comes from.

As for aiming “low”…your vision needs adjustment. What you meant to say was that when someone aims “spot on” you have to “aim high”…because the only way to defeat a man with relatively clear vision and the courage to voice it is to lob nukes at him or her…especially when your candidate is so horribly flawed. Caught in lie after lie by both the Inspector General of the State Department AND the FBI, and labelled by the FBI as having been “extremely careless” with this country’s sensitive intelligence data, there is just no coming back from that. Therefore, Hillary and the Democrats are lobbing everything and anything they can at Donald Trump, regardless of its truthfulness (as Hillary has already proven, the truth will never dissuade her from her chosen path) to try to make him “just as bad as she is.” If she can do that, then she can play her “woman card” again and try to gain some sort of advantage.

What a wonderful illustration of how to approach life for your children.

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as president and first lady, because we know that our words and our actions matter, not just to our girls, but to children across this country.

This is a very good sentiment. However, I have to question what kind of role model you are being for your kids when in a few more paragraphs you are going to tell your kids that they should vote for a woman that cannot tell the truth, that has lied to the faces of the next of kin of brave men who died on her watch (for no other reason than political expediency), and the same woman who along with her husband, has a nonprofit organization raking in big buck$ from special interests while she was in a position of complete and total conflict of interest.

Kids who tell us, I saw you on TV! I wrote a report on you for school! Kids like the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope, and he wondered, is my hair like yours? And make no mistake about it, this November, when we go to the polls, that is what we’re deciding. Not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, this election, every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives. And I am here tonight, because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton!

Impressive. You want the children of future generations to be shaped by a candidate who has been deemed a liar by the Inspector General of the State Department, an even bigger liar by the FBI, who willfully lied to the relatives of good men who died on her watch because it was politically expedient to do so, and who is tied up in such a murky, non-transparent charitable organization (the Clinton Foundation) as to practically SCREAM conflict of interest. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds, madam.

See, I trust Hillary to lead this country because I have seen her lifelong devotion to our nation’s children. Not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion. Kids who take the long road to school to avoid the gangs. Kids who wonder how they’ll ever afford college. Kids whose parents don’t speak a word of English but dream of a better life. Kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be. You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives. Advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer. Fighting for children’s health care as first lady. And for quality child care in the Senate. And when she didn’t win the nomination eight years ago, she didn’t get angry or disillusioned. Hillary did not pack up and go home, because as a true public servant, Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. So she proudly stepped up to serve our country once again as secretary of state, traveling the globe to keep our kids safe.

How can you “trust” a person who tells so many lies that even SHE can’t remember them all? And please, elaborate on this great love of children that Hillary has. And please, please, please tell me again how Hillary did not get angry when she got her butt kicked by your husband eight years ago? You must have just LOVED rubbing that into her face on national television! The bad blood between the Clinton’s and the Obama’s is very well known. Now you are just trying to put lipstick on a pig, as the saying goes.

And look, there were plenty of moments when Hillary could have decided the work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks, or how she talks, or even how she laughs. But here’s the thing. What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. And when I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls, and all of the children, that’s what I want. I want someone with the proven strength to persevere. Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously. Someone who understands that the issues the president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.

The work was “too hard?” Are you kidding us? Hillary and Bill have never had an easier time racking up huge fees for giving speeches and for Lord knows what else. Perhaps if Hillary was tired of being picked apart, she could try something new like…oh…I don’t know…telling the truth every once in a while…just to shake things up a bit? (Yes, I plagiarized this last phrase from Frozone of the Incredibles.)

Are you serious? You truly want a lying, two-faced career politician such as Hillary Clinton as the President for your girls? About the biggest thing she’s proven is that she has a hard time keeping the lies straight from the truth.

I have to admit to confusion over your reference to twitter messages (140 characters). I’ve seen Hillary send out many of those. Your point being?

Look, because … because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well informed. I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life work shows us and shows our children that we don’t chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed. And we give back, even when we’re struggling ourselves, because we know that there’s always someone worse off. And there but for the grace of God, go I.

Again with that “nuclear codes” garbage? You think a confirmed liar and possible “pay to play” scheme runner should have access to this country’s nuclear codes? A person who has told so MANY lies that she has a hard time remembering what is reality and what is the lie? What did she do…promise you she wouldn’t launch them? Don’t you get it? She’s a L-I-A-R!!! Besides, SHE’s the one that the FBI labelled as “extremely careless” with America’s intelligence data while she was the top diplomat for our country. You want *HER* to be entrusted with the nuclear codes?

You want a President with a record of public service? You’d prefer a lying, self-centered politician such as Hillary over someone whose actually been out in the world and CREATING businesses and jobs?

And about that “chasing fame and fortune” thing….tell me again how many times your husband has done the “late night talk show circuit” when he was supposed to be running the country?

Haven’t you noticed that Hillary is all about Hillary? Look at her VP pick? She publicly stated that she was going to wait until AFTER Trump announced HIS VP before she picked hers. Now why would somebody do that? The answer is because that somebody isn’t interested in who would be best for the country…that somebody is interested in who is most likely to help her get elected. That’s about as selfless as it gets…right? Remember, her VP pick will be running the country if something should happen to her. But you’re right of course…she was only thinking of the good of the Nation…no doubt…

I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters. A president who truly believes in the vision that our founders put forth all those years ago, that we are all created equal, each a beloved part of the great American story. And when a crisis hits, we don’t turn against each other. No, we listen to each other, we lean on each other. Because we are always stronger together. And I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be. And that’s why in this election, I’m with her.

If you want your children to understand that everyone in this country matters, perhaps you could do your part as well? Start by telling your husband to STOP making judgments on news matters related to shootings involving “white police officers and black people” before the bodies are even cold and before a single shred of evidence has been collected. You see, you can actually CONTRIBUTE to the deaths of law enforcement officers if you or he are constantly sending the message to the American People that the white LEO is to blame for their troubles.

I’m sorry to report that your husband has no clue as to what the Founding Fathers meant in more than one issue. You see, his pet project to usurp the 2nd Amendment flies right in the face of the Founding Fathers, as well as multiple SCOTUS rulings. If you’d like such a President as you stated…you are in luck! You can start by reigning in your own husband!

And continuing on the line of thought regarding the Founding Fathers, you could FURTHER contribute to that goal by telling your husband to STOP signing executive orders that attempt to usurp the power of Congress to enact law. You see, every time he does that, it ties up precious resources in the congress and the courts to put the brakes on him and to remind him legally that he doesn’t have the power to enact new laws. It’s right there in the Constitution. Maybe you could get him a copy for his next birthday.

As for not turning on each other in a crisis, I couldn’t agree with you more. How fortunate you are to be able to be in a position to do something about it right this minute! You could have your husband STOP blaming law abiding gun owning citizens every time some whack job ignores his prized “gun free zone” sign and kills people. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, your husband insists that the problem must be an inanimate object that lawful citizens have, rather than consider that the problem just might be with some of his failed policies.

Lady, if after all of that you think that Hillary Clinton is the answer to this nation’s problems, then you haven’t been paying attention to the fruits of her labors for the last 8 years or so. I hope the lipstick is waterproof.