Michelle Obama, stay-at-home mom?

posted at 6:06 am on May 12, 2009 by
[ Feminist Nonsense ]   

I don’t envy Newsbusters’ Ken Shepherd for having to penetrate the thorny brambles of feminist speculation here. But in Prince Charming-like fashion he succeeds in hacking his way through Bonnie Erbe’s overgrown femino-racial musings and finds . . . Michelle Obama is a stay-at-home mom? Not in a hundred years’ sleep would I have dreamt of her thus. But the evidence is there:

The emphasis on MO as a mom, with her nagging us to eat our vegetables, her helpful advice to less-experienced homemakers, and the well-publicized early-morning dogwalks. The fact that she hasn’t worked for (or not worked for) a salary since Chicago. And those arms that have so warmly and maternally embraced us all . . . put them all together and they spell M-O-T-H-E-R.*

Ms. Erbe believes it to be a “sad state of affairs” that the first lady has “caved in” to her advisors, who saw the need to soften the angry, strident campaign persona by emphasizing Ms. Obama’s maternal side. Ms. Erbe seems to assume that Ms. Obama would have preferred to practice law (or at least occupy an office and collect a paycheck, Chicago-style), than be an active first lady. Why in the world would she choose the mundane over the fabulous?

Mr. Shepherd comments, too, on Ms. Erbe’s next blog post on why there are so many more liberal women than conservative women in Congress:

I think the main reason, however, is that Republican women are generally more traditional than Democratic women, who tend to be more progressive. Therefore, GOP women are more likely to be fulltime homemakers or to work part-time and not to pursue all-consuming careers such as politics. Republican women like former Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) have even agreed with me in conversation that this is the case.

The secret is out: conservative women are more traditional than liberal women. I think Ms. Erbe nailed that one.

*OT: Couldn’t resist the Steyn connection here.

Croos-posted here.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Trackbacks/Pings

Trackback URL

Comments

Mommy can’t practice law. She lost her law license in 1993.

erp on May 12, 2009 at 9:20 AM

Mea culpa. Thanks.

Pundette on May 12, 2009 at 9:35 AM

I met Bonnie Erbe and her husband at an Inaugural party. They seemed very unhappy and she looked terrible. She seems to be stuck in a 1970s feminist timewarp.

Maybe she can comment sometime on why the liberal media seek to constantly attack and tear down any conservative women who do run for office – one in particular. But even Republican women in the House have felt the brunt of media abuse. If they were left alone there might be more of them.

rockmom on May 12, 2009 at 10:16 AM

I think the main reason, however, is that Republican women are generally more traditional than Democratic women, who tend to be more progressive.

That is literally the most inane quote I have read in a opinion piece in a long time, and that’s saying something. The AP and their ilk put in obvious tidbits like this in their stories, esp about voting blocs, so that the unwashed masses can “understand” it but I hadn’t seen anyone so supposedly sophisicated as Ms. Erbe, utter anything so vapid before.

thebrokenrattle on May 12, 2009 at 10:18 AM