The Obamas are rich. They went to great schools. And he’s about to be President. Sure he talks about himself like he’s the Second Coming, but he is a politician, and they’re all kind of loony in that narcissistic way. There is a problem, though: Barack’s bride, Michelle Obama, can’t hide the fact that she is not too fond of America and has a gazillion grievances against white people.
Rush Limbaugh really covers all the basis in his discussion below:
RUSH: Here is Michelle Obama. This is yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin, at a Barack Obama campaign event, a portion of her remarks.
MRS. OBAMA: What we’ve 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’m really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic, common issues, and it’s made me proud.
RUSH: Now, this, folks, is unhinged. .. . She and her husband are in the upper 1% of wage earners in this country. Where did she go to school? She went to, I think, Harvard, Yale or whatever. They went to private schools. They are millionaires.They live in the suburbs. I don’t think he marched at Selma. I don’t think he got beat upside the head. I don’t think Bull Connor turned the fire hose on him. I don’t think dogs were unleashed on Barack Obama. She, Mrs. Obama did not experience any of the 1950 segregation. To say something like that and to get a complete pass; people acting as though this is something unique and revelatory, that this is some special couple. Did she not feel proud about the Berlin Wall coming down? Has she not felt proud about the way we came together after 9/11? It is unbelievable to me that — and this goes to the root, I think, of some of the things we discuss here frequently, and that is people taking this country for granted, not having any understanding what it took to get this country where it is.
Here are two relatively young people, who grew up after a road had been paved for them. They have nothing in the world to be miserable about. He is running for the presidency of the United States. He ran for the Senate and made it. They have nothing in the world to be miserable or unhappy about or embarrassed about when it comes to this country. It is just outrageous for this kind of thing to be stated. The sad thing is it’s going to resonate with a lot of people because over the years many Americans have been told from grade school on up how unfair, how unjust, how racist, how sexist, how bigoted this country is.
Look at Oprah Winfrey. Does Oprah not make her proud? Oprah’s success, the movies, the TV show, how can that not make her proud? Oprah is a black woman as is Michelle Obama. By the way, there’s something else I had in the stack yesterday, didn’t have a chance to get to it so I saved it for today, and it has to do with the fact that she said, “Only Barack Obama can fix America’s soul. Only Barack Obama can fix America’s broken soul.”
Now, Michelle Malkin had a great reaction to this. Can you imagine if Huckabee or if Mitt Romney or if McCain, or any Republican presidential candidate came out and said, “America’s soul is broken, and only Huckabee can fix it, or only McCain can”? There would be an outcry from the separation of church and state crowd. And of course the soul, whether you people want to admit this or not, is a religious concept in many ways and in most ways. So now we’re getting religion mixed into all of this from Barack Obama, and his wife says this is the first time in her life she has been proud of this country. Doesn’t it just grate on you that liberals in general are not proud of their country, period? Doesn’t it grate on you that they’re embarrassed; that they hate the country; that they dislike it, and now she comes out with this kind of comment and all these people sitting around and hoping for whatever, are swooning and fainting?
Michelle Obama is very angry and alienated. She is much more angry than her husband. Until recently, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence is becoming irrefutable. I think it’s a major problem and will become one for his campaign. She’s a liability not least because, when she’s not insulting white people, she’s insulting her husband.
Michelle Obama is angry because of a familiar psychological phenomenon: no one likes to be needy, and most people project their frustration and resent others–in this case, white America–who give them help. Michelle Obama’s hostility stems directly from the contradictions at the heart of affirmative action. The Michelle Obamas of the world want the leg up, and they want their “brothers” to have it too, but they want the rest of us to pretend that they are where they are solely on merit. The gap of ability is impossible to ignore. It’s especially apparent in educational settings. Michelle’s Princeton classmates knew she wasn’t quite as sharp as they, and she knew it too.
Instead of fostering social peace and gratitude, affirmative action fosters rage among the most capable and well organized black Americans, folks who could succeed reasonably well without all the help. When coupled with his nutty, black nationalist church, his wife’s future role as “most trusted advisor and friend” will turn off more than a few voters, particularly when he has to get some portion of the productive half of the country in the Republican ranks to vote for him.
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Hey, this is a little off topic, but here’s a wonderful Obama site: http://obamawill.com
Enjoy!
Mr. Roach, great post. That’s some pretty impressive stuff as Rush goes.
I’m starting to wonder if this kind of attitude would last beyond this year if Obama is defeated. Whereas if he is elected, people will have to hear this sort of talk for four years, which could move them more to the Right on race.
I would have a hard time questioning the idea that Obama is unelectable, however, now that you and Larison have said what you have. Larison says that by nominating Obama, the Dems have done the only thing they could to permit McCain to be elected.
[...] Roach has a great post up about Obama as well. Posted in Barack Obama, academia, black culture, political correctness, [...]
Uhmm… How do you know that all of Michelle’s counterparts were brighter than her. Did she graduate last in her Harvard Law class? Just wondering?
I’ve done some litigation related to reverse discrimination in school admissions including in the Michigan cases: Gratz and Grutter. The gaps on the LSAT in black and white law school admissions are enormous, one standard deviation or more.
Let’s say she had a 160 LSAT. It might have been lower. That makes her very smart. Probably a 130 IQ or so. Top 15% of all people in the country. But it’s only top 8-10% of law school applicants, not the top 1-2% at the 170 level. And such an LSAT would only be average for black Harvard admitees. Some were lower. That gap is noticeable in lots of little ways. So let’s say it’s an educated guess that she was reminded of her lack of smarts.
Geez, I never felt dumb or outclassed even once in my life academically until law school. Then I was merely running with the pack. So imagine how she felt?
Plus, she said as much about being treated and feeling different in her senior paper at Princeton. If she felt out of sorts in undergrad, it must have been unbearably lonely at Harvard, but for her affirmative kinfolk with which to commiserate.
It’s really a bad system that makes people feel bad about themselves, work harder just to keep up, and be pissed off for the rest of their lives.
I believe Obama is obviously smarter than her and well qualified for his stint at Harvard. I believe they only allowed a student to get on Law Review at the time through blind grading or blind “write on” competitions. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that’s the case. That puts him in top 20% or so of his already stellar Harvard class. That’s pretty darn impressive. Noticeably, and unlike her, he doesn’t talk much about feeling out of place or doubting himself around smart people.
I think what she said was stupid, but anyone who goes to Harvard has to be intelligent. I just don’t believe that every single white person in her class was smarter than her. Maybe she has a lot of insecurities and some self-esteem issues despite being successful. Who knows? I also have issues with LSAT and most standardized testing. So.. I am bias when it comes down to tests determining someone’s “smarts”. Regardless, this is all very interesting. I wonder how the campaign will bounce back from this.
Here is a story about a black female Harvard law school grad who was an editor of the Harvard law review. The details from this news report would indicate that not only did she have a Michelle Obama like chip on her shoulder, but she also lacked professional ability. This raises the possibility that her “credentials” do not reflect the reputation they are supposedly backed up by.
http://www.law.com/jsp/law/LawArticleFriendly.jsp?id=1196935479196
Judge Rejects Race Bias Suit Against DLA Piper
Anthony Lin
New York Law Journal
12-07-2007
A Manhattan federal judge has thrown out a race discrimination suit brought against DLA Piper by a former associate who claimed the firm’s New York office was a hostile work environment.
Charlene Morisseau, a 2001 graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a law review editor, joined DLA Piper as a litigation associate in April 2003 but was asked to leave less than a year later. In a lawsuit filed last year, Morisseau, who is black, claimed her firing was retaliation for complaints she had made about discriminatory treatment.
She requested almost $250 million in damages from the firm and the 11 partners she individually named in the suit.
But Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan granted summary judgment to the firm Monday, finding that DLA Piper had put forth a “legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for plaintiff’s termination.”
“Here, the uncontradicted evidence demonstrates that plaintiff did not perform in a manner satisfactory to Piper notwithstanding her academic credentials,” the judge wrote. “She was a confrontational, stubborn, and insubordinate employee in an environment in which professional personal relations, flexibility and a willingness to accept supervision were essential.”
The judge deemed DLA Piper’s account of events admitted because Morisseau, proceeding pro se after firing her lawyers in April, did not timely file a declaration opposing the firm’s summary judgment motion, though she had been granted a number of extensions. Instead, Kaplan said he had only belatedly received from Morisseau via Federal Express “three volumes of purported exhibits” that he said were not authenticated and lacked exhibit tabs or a table of contents.
The judge said he would not consider any further submissions from Morisseau, who he said had previously “defied court orders, ignored schedules, failed to show up for or obstructed her deposition, and filed frivolous applications.”
“She has no claim to any further indulgence,” Kaplan wrote in his order in Morisseau v. DLA Piper, 06 Civ. 13255.
Morisseau did not return a call seeking comment, but she responded to the judge’s Monday decision by electronically filing an opposition to DLA Piper’s summary judgment motion Tuesday, stating in it that she had sent a hard copy to Kaplan along with the three volumes of documents. The opposition’s caption also indicated the forum as the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, rather than the Southern District.
Morisseau claimed partners at the firm discriminated against her by treating her differently than they treated white associates. In particular, she claimed partner Douglas Rappaport tried to blame her for a mistake he allegedly made in the course of representing a widow in a proceeding before the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. She also accused former partner Aaron Katz of giving her writing skills subpar rankings on a performance review and then refusing to provide feedback justifiying his review of her work. She said both partners also disparaged her in hallway conversations as “too aggressive” and “not right for a law firm.”
Morisseau claims she complained to the firm’s human resources department in March 2004 about what she perceived to be a hostile work environment. She said she believed Katz’s review of her writing skills showed that the firm was holding black associates to a higher standard than white associates.
The following month, Morisseau was allegedly summoned to a meeting with Joseph Finnerty III, the firm’s New York litigation head, where she was given a choice of correcting her insubordinate behavior or resigning from the firm. She refused to resign, demanding an investigation of her discrimination complaints, and was subsequently terminated.
PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR
But in court filings, DLA Piper denied treating Morisseau differently and said the firm had taken action because the ex-associate had exhibited a pattern of unacceptable behavior, including yelling at partners and throwing one out of her office.
The firm said Morisseau ordered former partner Marilla Ochis to “back up” out of her office after Ochis had come to discuss an e-mail exchange Morisseau had apparently taken offense to. In that exchange Ochis had told Morisseau not to be overly concerned with providing constant updates on ongoing matters but recognize that new matters might take precedence.
“The world would be a nicer place if we could all keep our ducks in a row,” Ochis had written, “but if the job were that easy, anyone could do it!”
Morisseau replied the next day that she found the last part of Ochis’ message “extremely unnecessary.” Ochis said she went to Morisseau’s office to explain that she had not meant anything offensive by her e-mail.
According to the firm, Morisseau initially refused an assignment relating to the Victim Compensation Fund by Rappaport and later raised her voice at him in a hallway confrontation over that assignment. Morisseau was also allegedly rude to partner Heidi Levine, her designated mentor. In one instance, the firm said, Morisseau did not respond to a hello by Levine and, when the partner began to ask a question, the associate put her hand up in a stopping motion and said, “Heidi, goodbye.”
The firm also said the review of her writing ability by Katz was largely positive and complimentary, ranking her abilities at the second-highest level in most categories and the highest in a few. The firm also noted that several other associates received the same overall score on the review as Morisseau and that a white associate was among those who scored lower. The firm also denied Morisseau’s claim that she was the only black associate in the firm’s New York office at the time.
Plevan said Thursday the firm now has 40 minority associates in New York, 18 of whom are black. She said the firm had made every effort to improve diversity in all of its office.
BAR ADMISSION
Morisseau had also accused the firm of interfering with her subsequent efforts to be admitted to the New York Bar. Though she had taken and passed the bar exam in 2001, she was not admitted until 2005, a delay she claimed was caused by further retaliatory action by the firm.
The delay to her bar admission is also at issue in a discrimination and retaliation suit Morisseau has brought in federal court in Atlanta against the employer she worked for prior to joining DLA Piper. After graduating from Harvard Law, Morisseau initially worked for the Southern Center for Human Rights, the group led by well-known death penalty appellate lawyer Stephen B. Bright.
In an affidavit Bright submitted for Morisseau’s New York Bar application, he said she “appears unable to separate reality and fantasy” and detailed “vicious attacks” and “false allegations of outrageous conduct” she had made against many of the Center’s lawyers and staff, all while “making virtually no contribution to the Center’s work in the eight months she was here.”
“All this reflects very poorly on the professional qualifications of Morisseau to practice law,” Bright wrote in his September 2004 affidavit. The Southern Center is also seeking summary judgment against Morisseau.
Wow. Well, honestly, I think that extreme is the exception. Not being Harvard smart doesn’t mean you’re not smart. You can’t be dumb and pass the bar. Even this women above might be smart, though clearly she lacks good judgment.
Chris,
Sure that example is extreme, but I think the point is that some affirmative action graduates, more than most people think, are just not qualified. I’ve seen many examples in the corporate world. Working in finance I got to know a corporate counsel who was tasked to hire an associate counsel for a major American corporation (now defunct). He was told to hire the black female in the applicant pool. Once hired, he told me she didn’t do any work for 3 years, and then left for a better job.
I’ve seen many examples of unqualified people who I consider affirmative action hires, most of them were not African Americans, but rather women or members of other groups. I hasten to add that most of the women with credentials doing demanding work were not unqualified and do good work, but the occasional exception existed and stuck out.
I feel the need to spell out that there are lots and lots of black women who are decent people who work hard and who don’t assume that because they graduated from a particular school they are necessarily more brilliant than anyone else, and who recognize that they still have a lot more learning to do, as we all do in life.
Rotten apples exist everywhere, and good apples too.
Just FYI, there are racial quotas for the Harvard Law Review. A couple of people from each section get on automatically with their grades. Then there is a blind writing competition to fill out the majority of slots. Finally, if the blind competition doesn’t result in the quotas being met, the final few spots are used to adjust the racial percentages. At least that’s how it was in 1999. Good stuff, huh?
Great system. But what was deal in 1990? I heard it was legit.
I’m glad that Tara felt that need. I just don’t know how blacks, Jews, gays and others are able to survive with all the negative stories about them in the mainstream media. It must be very difficult.
BTW, Obama was elected president of Harvard law review and received crucial support from the “conservatives”, but I’d guess those “conservatives” were Neocons. This actually fits a pattern, in that it was the Republican establishment that sent Alan Keyes to run against Obama in Illinois and therefore give the Senate seat to Obama. Even now, “conservatives” have spent all their time on Hillary, giving Obama a pass.
Wow, I have never been so hurt and offended in my life. I recently left the Republican party because I feel that there is too much intolerance tolerated in the party. As a black female, I became uncomfortable and alienated. I am now an independent with a strong resentment towards conservatives and Republicans.
I will start off by asking if you ever wondered why an African American would not be proud of this country. She never said that she was not proud to be an American. She said that she was not proud of her country. She means that she was disappointed by the other people in this country. Did you hear what Condi Rice had to say in regards to African American patriotism? I will let you know right now that Michelle speaks for me!
Also, Affirmative Action is often used to curve discrimination in workplaces and at times colleges (but not anymore). My father is a broker and the only black man in his division.They openly discriminate against blacks. He watches as white men and women move up the ladder due to social promotion, cronyism and based on their white privillege. My father has worked their for 25 years. He is yet to get promoted or a raise. He graduated from Georgetown. The racist and disrespectful men and women he works with make fun of his accent (he is from the Caribbean). They claim he probably only got hired in the first place because he is black. Yet they are all their doing is half the work with double the pay. From the numbers, my father is the most accomplished. The company often rewards him with a little bonus here and a fruit basket there. Yet no promotions, no raises and no equal pay. I’ll ask my father if he is happy?
In your narrow, white supremacist mind, you think that blacks are not as intellectual or capable as whites. There is no way that Michelle and Barack achieved anything, they are black. They are probably lazy and stupid. They probably just want “hand-outs”. Disgusting!
I just graduated from Columbia. Columbia is much more diverse than preppy Princeton who seems to have a “I go there because my daddy went there” acceptance policy. My cousin graduated there 10 years ago. She did not have the best experience. Therefore I completely know where Michelle is coming from. Did you read that article about her racist roommate and race relations on campus?
Michelle speaks for many African Americans if your arrogant mind could actually put yourself in someone else’s shoes. You do not know what she had/has to face or what went on in every step of her life. You are just too arrogant with a low opinion of blacks.
Michelle is not “angry”. The reason why you put that tag on her is because she is a black women. People love saying things like that about black women! She is an intelligent, strong and yes, happy women with a nice family and a good career. Her experience as an African American (something you cannot relate to) is what makes her feel this way. The experiences of her brothers and sisters also.
Three things before I leave, Rush Limbaugh is an embarassingly ignorant bigot therrfore you quoting him says a lot about you. Trinity United Church of Christ is not seperatist, its afrocentric. You know little to nothing along with your friends about black political thought, culture of church traditions so please. I attended last summer while interning in Chicago with my roommate from Columbia. She grew up in the congregation. She is an absolutely amazing person and so are the people in the church. Thirdly, white women are the number one beneficiaries of Affirmative Action. Go look it up!
“Wow, I have never been so hurt and offended in my life. I recently left the Republican party because I feel that there is too much intolerance tolerated in the party. As a black female, I became uncomfortable…”
Huh? “Never so hurt and offended”? Give me a break. Let me give you hurt and offended, and uncomfortable…the democratic party has lobotomized the black community and its lockstep voters for the better part of 50 years. Their (the democrats) pretext has always been on the quixotic basis of increased equality, rights, opportunity, or hope-and yet some 50 years later the black community per se has thoroughly regressed.
Look around, sister. Black communities are a trash pile, their homes are a wreck, their lives are wasted and their futures are abysmal. Half the families are torn apart or disengaged, half the men are in prison or on parole, and too many of the kids are neglected 24/7. Drugs and ennui define the balance of the hood, while promiscuous sex wears a badge of honor. Welcome to the great society.
But feel free to trot out, ad nauseam, the but-my-ancestors-were-slaves canard if it makes you feel better. Or blame the GOP. Better yet, go drink the democratic party Kool-aid. Hell, if aint working, don’t fix it.
More to the point. Despite that dismal, self-induced reality of the black world, you get on a blog and express your worst afrocentric hurt as emanting from a bona fide critique of the elitist Michelle Obama.
Suggest you get back to Columbia and redo the seminar where they make shit up.
I long for the days when it was a fair assumption that a Columbia graduate knew how to spell basic words and compose sentences with basic grammar skills.
In other words, the days before affirmative action.
I would no more turn to Rush Limbaugh as a moral compass than I would to Jesse Jackson, Dick Cheney, Anne Coulter or Al Sharpton. They’re all the same breed of dogs with different spots. All are demigogues that appeal to a certain prejudiced population. The irony is that they’ve all become wealthy by appealing to the ignorance of their audience.