Oh dear GAWD, please tell me they didn’t just follow Michelle Obama’s speech with “Isn’t She Lovely” and then a little quip from satellite hubby saying that she looked cute.
Way to turn a powerful, inspiring woman into a harmless, silly, weak, pretty little statue, all in the blink of an eye. Nice job.
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August 25, 2008 at 8:46 pm
nightgigjo
I missed “isn’t she lovely”, but got Barack’s “cute” comment. UGH.
The most intelligent, articulate speaker of the frakking NIGHT and it’s going to be all about how she looks and what a great wife and mother she is afterwards. Bah, humbug!
August 26, 2008 at 7:52 am
TP
I read that “Isn’t She Lovely” was used to introduce their daughters, which made sense to me because I’m old enough to remember that Stevie Wonder wrote the song for his own daughter, and the original song has her baby wahs in the background.
Lovely is the best euphemism for beauty, since it centers the perception of beauty on the shared feeling of love rather than external validation. It’s still patronizing, though. What isn’t when you think of the standard range of male response to those they have oppressed so completely?
Like “cute”. I’ve always hated that word. It’s unequivocally patronizing.
September 2, 2008 at 6:48 pm
bleh
Gah