We like Michelle Better than Barack. Why is This News?

So, Michelle Obama is more popular than the president. And her favorables are higher among Democrats than Republicans. This is news, Politico?

Why wouldn't she be more popular? She doesn't make controversial decisions, she doesn't have campaign promises to break of fulfill and she can play the role of loving mother and spouse in the public eye as much as she wants to.

Seriously, all the First Ladies in recent times (with the possible exception of Nancy Reagan) have at one time or another been more popular than their husbands. It would be news if they weren't.

Of course Michelle Obama is more popular than her husband -- we'd expect that unless she were caught slipping arsenic into the chocolate bars she handed out to the kids at Halloween at the White House.

If only the media would stop treating fake news as the real thing. Then, for the first time in my adult lifetime, would I be proud of my newspaper.

Michelle Obama

This is how I saw her from my vantage point in the nose-bleed section.

I also saw her as an accomplished woman, balancing roles as a mother, wife and a succesfull careerist. I don't see how people can see her as an angry, un-American demon.

If nothing else, those little girls refute that slur.

The Obama Family and the Democratic Response

From my vantage point inside the Pepsi Center tonight (I managed to score some credentials to get in) I thought Michelle gave a great speech. I thought the Obamas are clearly a (justifiably) proud and at its core a quintessentially American family. It's hard for me to not admire the Obamas, for their striving, their sacrifice, the value they place on family, their kids and community service. If I don't admire that, I would dishonor everything my parents taught me. That they hold the Obamas with contempt is a great mystery to me.

I thought the response was muted inside the hall. Granted, I was in the nosebleed section. But I compared notes with a colleague after who was closer to the stage and he felt the same way. The crowd seemed somehow unfocused.

Maybe it's the lack of oxygen at high altitude. Maybe they Jim Leach turned some of them into zombies. Or maybe it's always like that and it looks and sounds more exciting on TV.

I have pictures, which I'll post tomorrow if they turned out.