Ed Brodow: Michelle Obama’s Speech—A Lesson in Mendacity

Former First Lady Michelle Obama gave a pre-recorded speech at the DNC this week. I have always regarded Barack Obama as a paragon of mendacity, (“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall—Obama’s the Biggest Liar of Them All!”—Clash Daily, September 13, 2018) but it seems that his wife may have surpassed him. The word that best describes Michelle’s address is disingenuous: lacking in frankness, insincere. Here are five criticisms of Michelle Obama’s disingenuous speech.

(1) She completely ignored the horrible job her husband did as president, as he attempted to move this country in the direction of socialism—screwing up the economy in the process. “You cannot fake your way through this job,” she said. That’s what her husband did. The socialist Left, wrote Steve Baldwin in Western Journalism, believed that the Obama era was the best opportunity ever to transform America to a socialist-based economy, and to eradicate our commitment to a Constitution designed to limit federal power. “Never before in American history have we had a president who seeks decline,” wrote Dinesh D’Souza in Obama’s America: Unmaking the American Dream. “He pledged to ‘fundamentally transform America,’” said Joseph Farah, editor of WorldNetDaily, “and he has done his level best to destroy it through fanning flames of hatred of all it stands for.”

(2) In 2008, Michelle said, "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.” Many voters, myself included, believed she was showing us the angry, American-hating woman behind the curtain. Columnist Rich Galen noted that America is a place that "gives people like Michelle Obama the right to say excruciatingly stupid things." Here we are in 2020 and all of a sudden Michelle is this sweet lady who loves America. Listen to the fake tremolo in her voice. Who does she think she is kidding? She teaches her kids values—what values? For eight years, I watched the Obama’s concentrated assault on our values. Then she gallingly claims ownership of “the cold hard truth,” something we never saw in the secretive Obama administration—all the more aggravating because he lied when he told us his presidency would be transparent.

(3) Michelle blames President Trump for everything from the coronavirus to the Antifa riots. Trump, she says, is in over his head. She never mentions that Trump achieved four percent growth, something her husband swore couldn’t be done. Instead she conveniently ignores all of Trump’s numerous accomplishments. Trump is responsible, she insists, for separating “children in cages” at the border. The Associated Press did a fact check and exposed her lie. “What she did not say,” says the AP, “is that the very same ‘cages’ were built and used in her husband’s administration.” The photos used in support of that argument “were taken in 2014 and depicted some of the thousands of unaccompanied children held by President Barack Obama.”

(4) Michelle unashamedly plays the race card, trying to divide voters based on race by abhorring what she calls the “horrors of systemic racism.” “People of color are being murdered,” she says, inferring that this too is Trump’s fault. Yes, Michelle, they are being murdered—by other people of color. She accuses Trump of emboldening white supremacy, attacking peaceful protestors, and “degrading and dehumanizing others.” All lies. Significantly, she evinces a total disregard for all that Trump has done to benefit blacks—more in less than four years than Barack did in eight. In fact, one of her husband’s negative contributions was creating racial animus that did not exist before he took office. Thanks to the Obama presidency, race relations are worse than ever and the country is on the verge of civil war.

(5) She paints a portrait of Joe Biden that is complete nonsense. “He has never lost sight of who he is,” she says. Does she mean a crooked politician, a serial liar, and an extortionist? He wants leaders who “won’t just serve themselves and their wealthy peers.” Obviously Michelle is unaware of Biden’s efforts to enrich his family members by making shady deals in China and the Ukraine. She admires Biden’s humility and “maturity.” Don’t you mean senescence, Michelle? “I know Joe,” she says. “He knows how to lead the country.” He doesn’t even know where he is.

Does Michelle know where she is? Does she think most Americans are gullible enough to fall for her slick presentation? Perhaps she does. Too bad.