Jezebel 
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New York, 8:14 AM
Mon Nov 30
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/22/09
Geesh. Can't a black couple simply have unrequited and committed love?
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09/22/09
I'm not surprised, and yet I'm still horrified. If I was ever within hand-shaking distance of him or Michelle (or the two of them together) my knees would be knocking and I'd be speechless and embarrassed.
I was scandalized by how warm and dreamy he seems (and still is) during the campaign, even if he's not the earth-shattering second-coming of RFK (without the womanizing, political dynasty scandals, or horrible family curse, please) that people hoped would be (what can we do? the country has moved to the right, and he's a centrist who is nevertheless being compared to Hitler and Bill Ayers alike).
And for all that aforementioned dreaminess I still cannot imagine someone "grabbing his ass", making lewd remarks....I realize he's sexy as hell (not just leader of the free world---good looking, gracious and charming to boot), and I'm still offended by the notion of women (or men) trying to get him to cheat on the mother of his children and his wife of a decade. Especially when that "wife" is Michelle Obama, who we admire in her own right.
This White House family is youthful, charismatic, attractive, and black, so I get the fascination, but most of the media coverage of their marriage still irritates me. I hope they're as happy in real life as they seem in this grating, asinine media coverage, stories from the same people who know that discussing the statuesque Michelle Obama's favorite designers is a ready-made way to fill airtime.
It irritates me because to assume they don't WORK at their marriage or at being good parents is a little condescending, isn't it? (Especially when Michelle was staying home in Chicago and he was a junior senator in Washington...that New Yorker article wasn't simply insulting, it had a lot of things to say about this couple and of Michelle in particular that were humanizing.)
Being leader of the free world at a time like this is probably pretty unpleasant, but apart from that, now that they family is all together in one place and have a new furry addition I hope they to enjoy themselves once in awhile, idiotic "Insider" or Post pieces be damned.
09/22/09
I don't know why I'm focusing on that particular not-that-scandalous bit. But if I had a crush on someone, and was sure his wife knew about it, I would be a little embarrassed regardless.
09/22/09
This makes me think of Dustin Hoffman's character in "Wag the Dog," when someone dismisses his presidential speech: "Corny? Of course it's corny! We wouldn't have him say the flippin thing if it wasn't corny!"
And then it makes all the secretaries cry.
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09/22/09
Minus the power and all, of course.
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09/22/09
That's not only a ridiculous statement, it's borderline offensive. So what, we're expected to believe it wouldn't be odd if they were white? This wouldn't have even made it into the book if this was a portrait of George and Laura(who I will add do seem to also have a boring, normal marriage).
09/22/09
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09/22/09
I wonder though if this statement is a reflection of the author trying to sort out the socially-ingrained picture of "all-american" he's probably grown up with (I think I'm assuming the author's white) with his realization that the people he's found who best reflect those values (a couple who's black) are people who are not seen in the forefront when those values are normally discussed in the contexts he hears.
I'm positting some things here w/o evidence because his quote comes across mostly as confused--as if he's trying to reconsile something he knows is common sense (that is, that a black couple can be all-american and down to earth) and the impressions and imagry associated with the concept of "all-american" (which I would assume for a lot of Americans means a WASP family.)
If people find this offensive, I won't argue against that, but I just wanted to point out that I hear a struggle in this statement, and so I think that explains (partly) why it comes out sounding silly.
09/22/09
And Newt Gingrich. And Trent Lott.
09/22/09
IMO, the cognitive dissonance doesn't make it any less offensive, though.
09/22/09
Michelle Williams recently got this treatment in an extremely unclassy article by Vanity Fair, in which Terry Gilliam opines at length about her supposed bitchery in the face of His Greatness. It nagged me then, the "And His Girlfriend/Wife Is A Bitch," and it nags me now.
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09/22/09
Same for this profile. It's ridiculous, especially with this author seemingly placing the blame on her.
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09/22/09
Good one, Kate. Seriously - that was ridonkulous.
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09/22/09
I took a lot of Astronomy in high school and college and you learn pretty early on that the big, bright, hot, tumultuous stars are the ones that go *boom* and have a supernova and a short (in star terms) lifespan. I always thought that relationships were just like that: if you want one to last for a long time it should be steady, like the sun, but still bright.
Definitely had a couple of supernova relationships in college, though. They were worth it, at the time.
09/22/09
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09/22/09
But, yes. My old roommate had one of those "passionate" on-off drama-relationships. It was so annoying. It's like, one day she was done with him, the next day he was the love of her life. I've always found that people in those relationships have watched too many movies, and think that to be in a Passionate, Sexxy Relationship there needs to be tons of drama, and actually believe that there's a fine line between love and hate. Because, there isn't. I love my friends, I hate Dick Cheney. Not a fine line. A very wide line, in fact.
Plus, in my experience, "boring" relationships that are based on such prosaic things as mutual affection, love, respect, enjoying time together, good conversation, etc, tend to have better sex than ones based on narcissistic ideas of who your partner is rather than any actual human connection. But then I really can't stand my old roommate. So I could be judgy.
07/28/09
07/28/09
I think you can be an educated, career-driven woman who is married. You just have to find the right guy who shares your priorities.