Americans cool to Michelle Obama, don't know Cindy McCain

I try to avoid judging women who become first ladies regardless of what I think of their husbands. They become the target of society's contradictory expectations for women/wives and ya can't please everyone.

Betty Ford was a personal favorite of mine and I respected her husband for never muzzling her (as I'm sure he was advised to do). Old Babs Bush didn't fare so well. She has a wonderful sense of humor but not one appropriate for a First Lady. The last evidence the public heard was when she dismissed her husband's VP opponent in 1984, Geraldine Ferraro, as "rhymes with rich." When she became First Lady she was reduced to ghost writing books for her dog, Millie. Though she was obviously angry, having been relegated to the home front raising kids while her husband was off making his way in the world, she covered it up with humor.

Michelle Obama observed she was proud of her country for "the first time in her adult life." She took a lot of flak and I could understand why only after I read Mitt Romney was hard pressed to name a single thing wrong with America. We need standards here....

Yes, not many people know that Cindy McCain was a drug addict and drug thief who stole drugs from her own charity and fired the guy that reported it and that Cindy did the books for the Keating Five.

And not many people know that she is very wealthy, and double the business he father left her. Also that she admitted she had a drug problem and is now straight. Michelle Obama is a figure head for the two faced. Enjoy the benefits of being an American but ashamed of America at the same time. In short a Democrat......... :)

Jav

Enjoy the benefits of being an American but ashamed of America at the same time. In short a Democrat.

Ignore all the flaws of America while at the same time allowing them to fester and putrify. In short, a Republican.

What about the people who enjoy the benefits of being non-American but are ashamed of America at the same time?

Anyway, I don't think either of the first ladies would be bad...Michelle Obama's statement is going to be misquoted and used as ammunition against Democrats, and Republicans are going to have to deal with the conflict of interests of McCain's wife being linked to big business.

Paraphrased: "Well, I don't know anything about her except for what my friends tell me but I sure don't like her and I'm dead set against this trying to run her husband thing."

The perils of democracy.

Really! Michelle Obama. What's not to like?

Well, let's try this.

Cindy McCain is a drug-addict and should not be representing the United States anywhere. Unless she wants to be the new drug tzar.

Michelle Obama is a highly educated woman that could stand on her own at a state dinner.

I guess I could be more moderate. Nah. < :-)

Here's everything I know about both women: One is rich and the other is black.

I really like Michelle Obama. I think she will decide the election.

Does it really matter? First of all to the people who criticize Michelle Obama, all she did was grow up in a working class family, put herself through Princeton and Harvard and head a public interest agency working for disadvantaged Americans for the past 15 years, while raising two daughters. Her silly comment about being not proud of America aside, she has done a lot more for America and proved the genuineness of the American dream than most of her critics, I'll bet you that.

As far as Cindy McCain goes, she is rich and she is white. But blaming her for a lucky draw of birth is totally unfair. She is an adroit businesswoman, has done a remarkable amount of charity work and has frankly had a very trying marriage with McCain and handled it with a lot of dignity and class, even while suffering a stroke.

The fact is that both these women are good, decent Americans in their own way, whom we should be perfectly proud of to line up against the wives of the heads of state of any country. Neither woman - who, contrary to the apparent belief of some, are NOT running for any office - deserves to be demonized to serve some unsavory idea of what party politics is about. Nor, for that matter, do their husbands. It is unfortunate that today's partisan politics means that outstanding Americans like John McCain and Barack Obama must be portrayed by opponents as something akin to comic book villains, and both the right and left devour this tripe.

"Whites have an unfavorable view of Michelle Obama by 18 percentage points, while eight in ten blacks like her."

So, blacks have an unfavorable view of Michelle Obama by twenty percentage points. Wow.

Sarge,

Aside from the fact that the article does not say that blacks have an unfavorable view of Michelle Obama by twenty percentage points, it's difficult for me to tell if you are being sarcastic or if you find some significance in these numbers.

The article says 8 in 10 have a favorable impression of Michelle. It does not say how many have a neutral or unfavorable impression. Even if there had been only two choices and 2 in 10 have an unfavorable impression of Michelle, we don't know from this article whether 2 in 10 means 19, 20 or 21 out of 100. For that matter, we don't even know whether it means 1.5+ in 10 or 2.5- in 10.

If your figure were to be accurate, how do you know that the difference is statistically significant? Or what would it mean that 2% more blacks have an unfavorable view of Michelle? Do you have a point?

Why does anyone care? Its not like any of us are going to get up with them. But anyway, Michelle is a good looking lady, but man, Cindy is rich! Which would you prefer?

Cindy is a Drug addict? Man, who in the US anymore isn't? I don't consider someone who has snorted, even a lot or smoked weed a drug addict. She couldn't have been that bad off, she did run a successful business.

I would assume that from what I have seen from Michelle, she is quite a preppy stuck up kind of chick. Cindy, is an old lady. We shouldn't be comparing.

As much as all of you are going to stomp on me, I have to say, I do like Laura Bush, she's has proven herself to be a very strong willed and outstanding lady. How did George get someone that nice?

Sez, it's a simple deduction, assuming that there are no wish-washy respondants; they either like her or they don't. If eight out of ten blacks like her, then two out of ten, or 20% don't like her.

"If your figure were to be accurate, how do you know that the difference is statistically significant?"

20% of blacks vs 18% of whites having an unfavorable view of Michelle? I'd say it was significant!

Chardk1

Her silly comment about being not proud of America aside...

I don't think it was silly and I can't simply put it aside. This isn't something about her past we're talking about. She's admittedly never felt proud of her country until just now. It speaks volumes about her and I have little doubt her husband shares her sentiments. Seeing this Ivy-league educated, six-figure income, highly successful woman make such a statement was as low a point in politics as I can remember.

was as low a point in politics as I can remember.

Give me a break - this has got to be a joke - a low point in politics because a candidates wife made an off-the-cuff remark referring to being proud of the political process? Then, I assume another low point would be when McCain stated that he didn't, "...really love America until he was deprived of her company." as a POW. Let's not be dramatic here. I can think of low points in US political history (the entire nightmare of the Bush Administration comes to mind)and Michelle Obama's comment isn't even on the radar.

So what sarge is trying to say is that 82% of whites like Michelle while only 80% of blacks do.

And the fuss is about what?

Buddha - I'm not saying that; I'm saying that's what this poll is saying.

Michelle Obama - she ain't no Sherry Palmer!

When comedy host Steve Colbert told Michelle "Everybody knows you and your husband are elitists," and asked her how many silver spoons she was born in her mouth with, she declared, "We had four spoons, and then our father got a raise at the plant and we had five spoons."

Har! Good one, Michelle!

OK sarge, my bad. Though I still wonder at the fuss. With the US in 2 wars and a third on in the offing I am amazed that the wives are becoming part of the calculus - or more technically, jibber-jabber.

GJP2006

this has got to be a joke

Those closest to Obama are not so subtly telling you what they really think about the country. It's not a joke. Get a clue.

I do like Laura Bush, she's has proven herself to be a very strong willed and outstanding lady.

She also came to Michelle Obama's defense, stating "I'm sure she meant 'more proud.'" Cindy McCain, by contrast, stated "I'm always proud of my country." While she's entitled to her opinion, it implies a sort of mindless affirmation of everything the US does. I'm certainly not optimistic the country can right itself from the current ills which afflict us, namely burgeoning debt, a political process increasingly dominated by special interests, and a citizenry disengaged by it all.

What Michelle Obama was commenting on was "feeling proud of seeing citizens once again engaged in politics." You can support her husband's candidacy or not, but lack of citizen engagement is not a good thing whatever your own political opinions.

The same people who cried McCain's "100 years in Iraq" comment was misunderstood aren't willing to acknowledge the context in which Michelle, who's not running for office, made that remark.

It's a joke that approval of a single person's wife even rates in electing a political leader. There is a need for a major haul of the US political system...guess it's never going to happen though

"It's a joke that approval of a single person's wife even rates in electing a political leader"

It wasn't a joke 4 years ago. Kerry's foreign-born billionairehead wife was proof for all the envious Europeans and Canadians here that he was the better candidate.

I don't make this stuff up.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/

Read it bfor yourself. < :-)

Sarge,

It's far too simple a deduction. This is from the same AP-Yahoo news poll that said 30% of people viewed Michelle favorably. Does this mean that 70% of people view her unfavorably? The article says that 35% view her unfavorably. Does that mean the other 35% are wishy-washy or does it mean that they just don't have enough information to make an intelligent assessment?

Furthermore, the more I read this article the more the wording seems misleading. For example the wording is that whites have an unfavorable view of Michelle by 18%. This could mean that unfavorable white responses were 18% higher than favorable ones or it could mean that 18% more of the white population found her unfavorable than not. In either case the numbers would be far different from what you presented and I foolishly accepted.

In the first case, assuming no "wishy-washiness" whites would have a 54% unfavorable reaction. Assuming 35% "wishy-washiness" whites would have a 35% unfavorable reaction--which is, low and behold, rather like the statistic presented in the article. In the second case the percentages would be 57% and 41.5% respectively. No matter how you slice it, that's a heap of negativity from white folks compared to that from blacks, no matter where the "wishy-washiness" comes down.

You can find the results at:

http://news.yahoo.com/polls

I couldn't find any breakdown of results by demographics. The demographic composition of the study is broken down however. Another point, the margin of error is about 2.5% overall.

Or, to make it more simple, this poll is not saying that 82% of whites like Michelle while only 80% of blacks do.

Can I just refer you all to the second paragraph of the article which indicates that only 30% of all Americans view her favorably?

I'm cool to both of them. I see Michelle Obama as a race baiter from the "slips" she has made. I see Cindy McCain as the aging trophy wife who funds her husband's political ambitions. It doesn't matter as neither of them are on the ballot.

Here's an interesting article about Mrs. O's background:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-517824/Mrs-O-The-truth-Michelle-Obamas-working-class-credentials.html

It's also interesting to note that American voters have to look at news sources outside the U.S. media to learn about the half-truths and dirty laundry that's piling up about the obama's.

RR

RomeoRamen: interesting read but hardly surprising. People of humble means do not get to the final stages of the presidential contest. It's a money and connections game which I already surmised the Obama's had plenty of both.

I will say that I'd be proud to have Michelle Obama as our first lady. A woman that got where she is because she pulled up her boot straps and made something of herself. None of it was "GIVEN" to her. < :-)