"Baby Mama"? Really, Fox?

"Michelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction"

First off, I'd like to extend a hearty congratulations to Fox for being the 21st century's answer to J. Edgar Hoover, sans the laudable crime-fighting record.

That said, it absolutely pisses me off (though it doesn't particularly surprise me) that Michelle Obama has become the target of such disgustingly cliched attacks. It amazes me that the same predictably prejudiced cards have been played over and over again for more than two centuries, and that the sort of people who play them still haven't stopped trying. You almost have to admire their audacity.

For one thing, if Michelle Obama were in fact an "Angry Black Woman", I'd say it's her motherfucking prerogative. I mean, granted, she had the luxury of spending only four years of her life in under Jim Crow, but I'm pretty sure it took more than a few weeks for that shit to wear off. Seriously, she's a black woman who grew up in Chicago's south side back then, and managed to pull off Harvard Law regardless. Think about how much she could have accomplished if she didn't have to deal with the burdens of her race, gender and social class. If reparations happened, they'd pretty much have to give her Disneyland.

But more important is the fact that she's being portrayed not just as a passionate firebrand but as an "Angry Black Woman". It was unscrupulous and underhanded for the right to go after Bill Clinton because of his failings as a husband that didn't really have anything to do with his administrative ability, but setting aside the harm it did him personally, it was mostly just petty. Cashing in on racial prejudice for political reasons, on the other hand, is just scummy and repulsive. It's a time honored tradition among bigots to deny black Americans their due on the grounds that they'll be some kind of threat if given power. Apparently, it's a tradition that the conservative columnists who've attacked Michelle Obama are proud to uphold. I suppose it's some kind of a consolation that they're trying to drag Obama down more because he's liberal than because he's black. But frankly, it's not very much of one.