Michelle Obama: Uppity Negro

Memeorandum led me to the piece in Townhall by Carol Platt Liebau in which she thought that Michelle Obama's recognition that there were some things that could be improved in this country sounded a bit "radical."  Liebau seemed to think that working to improve the lot of others was frightening. But then Liebau is afraid of the dark.

She also thinks that Obama is insufficiently grateful; Liebau wrote

"one heard much more about struggle and hard luck stories than about gratitude for a country that has made her opportunities possible."

Liebau wanted to hear:

"some forthright gratitude for [this] country."

Here are a few lines from Obama's actual speech:

In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much.

my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me

And, you see, that is why I love this country.

I know firsthand ... that the American dream endures.

in this great country, where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school,

out of gratitude for those whose triumphs we mark this week, and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment, let us devote ourselves to finishing their work,

When Carol Platt  Liebau writes about gratitude, she's really talking about being "uppity."

In the world created by Liebau - John Sydney McCain III is entitled to the gratitude of the nation; a successful black woman is insufficiently grateful if she only says "thank you" six or seven times a speech.