Watching the DNC Convention tonight was surreal, infuriating, and at times incomprehensible. The prime time speeches showed glimmers of the people we've come to know and loathe during the past four years. But for the most part, they were trying so hard to wrap themselves in the flag that they've previously wanted to burn that I couldn't even recognize them.
For sanity's sake (mine, and yours!), I'd like to point out one particularly galling idea in Michelle's speech.
She said:
"And as president, you get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are."
She mentioned this in the context of having a devoted family and dedicated guardians. She spoke of the humble lives she and her husband enjoyed, and the hard work that their parents and grandparents did on their behalf.
No. The truly insidious subtext is this:
"Yeah, things suck now. But your parents and grandparents went to work and lived their lives without complaining, you selfish Americans. You should just take these hard times. We're all equal in our suffering."
Every generation should not have to start back at square one.
That's exactly what our parents and grandparents were working against. A new college graduate should not have to take a bus to her secretarial job because she couldn't find a better position available in her field. A young man should not have to work three jobs because he can't find one full-time one out there that can pay the bills for his family.
But that's the way it is in Obama's country today.
There are lots of nations out there where each generation starts in exactly the same position as the previous ones. But that's not this nation.
Michelle, you talk about how the people you grew up with shape who you and your husband are today. And it's great to talk about your parents and grandparents. But you can't skip the others influencing your thoughts and beliefs during the formative years of early adulthood.
Like Rev. Wright.
Like Bill Ayers.
Like Frank Marshall Davis.
Why did all the frosted memories and sweet reminiscences only include childhood and the White House? What happened in those years during which you incurred that much-touted student debt?
Don't sanitize your past when you want to control our future. And don't lecture us about what true success is when, after four years, the best job you can give us is "incomplete."
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