(This was written Friday morning, but didn’t post. I’ll let it stand.)
Michelle Obama’s much hyped first interview as First Lady aired on Good Morning America today.
Some may have fun with the slip of the tongue where she commented on the sheer volume of things that needed the President’s attention. “Some of it’ll work, and some of it will.” (Funny, and no I don’t think she’s being overly optimistic or cocky.)
The disturbing slip was one that her handlers should have caught. There’s no excuse for them not catching this in the prep.
{my paraphase, for lack of transcript} “Like most Americans, I was completely unaware of the hardships and sacrifices military families endure.”
Well, maybe “like most Americans in my upper-class Chicago neighborhood who may or may not have be reformed 60’s domestic terrorists.”
Then she compounds it with an observation about how few of us know how hard it is on young children who find themselves moving to different schools every year.
Mrs. Obama… really?
Actually, I don’t blame her one bit. It’s the first interview, and the assumption (correct) was that Robin Roberts would not be a hostile interview.
The next interview needs to be better prepared. Michelle, it’s time to sack your handlers. Every one of them. They failed you. Not once in any of the rehearsed questions did anyone point out how out-of-touch that sounded.
There are many of us (make that most) who went to school with self-described “Army Brats,” and we know people who’ve kept the family humming along despite the absence of a parent. Maybe you ought to reach out beyond the bubble and find some more representative sounding boards.
I just watched the interview and read the transcript. It didn’t sound like that at all in context, as immediately subsequent to that in the same paragraph – without taking a breath – she lists the many things she is talking about, those things don’t sound at all like a blooper, they sound like things that no one really thinks about.
That sentence alone sounds funny but it was not alone it was elaborated upon immediately and purposefully.
There’s no doubt she went on to list several of those things.
My beef is the tone that indicates that “most” Americans wouldn’t be aware of these things. Considering the sheer number of active military, Guard and Reserve who have been deployed in recent memory, those who are unaware would clearly be in the minority, and not vice-versa.
Had she simply said “I want to highlight those heroic daily struggles that we take for granted,” then I would have applauded her. I won’t speculate as to why she said what she did (there’s the innocent “denizen of a bubble” theory, and the less-innocent “trying to normalize based on our experiences“.) In any respect, it could have been communicated a lot better, and if Mrs. Obama lacks an advisor with an ear for how things sound in Flyover Country, then she needs one stat.