Richard Cohen, on the real meaning of Sarah Palin's attack on Michelle Obama

[kpete]

* Richard Cohen, on the real meaning of Sarah Palin's attack on Michelle Obama:

Attack on Michelle Obama shows Palin's ignorance of history
By Richard Cohen

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

When I was 11, my father thought it was time to show my sister and me the nation's capital. I have only vague memories of that trip - the heat, the expanse of the White House's grounds, the Jefferson Memorial. I do remember we took Route 1 through Baltimore (no I-95 yet) and it was there that I saw my first sign with the word "colored" on it - a rooming house, I think. This was 1952, and the United States was an apartheid nation.

It is Sarah Palin who brings back these memories. In her new book, she reportedly takes Michelle Obama to task for her supposedly infamous remark from the 2008 campaign: "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." Instantly, Republicans pounced. Among the first to do so was Cindy McCain, who said, "I have and always will be proud of my country." It was a cheap shot, but her husband's selection of Palin for the ticket and plenty of cheap shots from Palin ("death panels," etc.) were yet to come.

........

Sarah Palin teases that she might run for president. But she is unqualified - not just in the (let me count the) usual ways, but because she does not know the country. She could not be the president of black America nor of Hispanic America. She knows more about grizzlies than she does about African Americans - and she clearly has more interest in the former than the latter. Did she once just pick up the phone and ask Michelle Obama what she meant by her remark? Did she ask about her background? What it was like at Princeton? What it was like for her parents or her grandparents? I can offer a hint. If they were driving to Washington, they slowed down and stopped where the sign said "colored" - and the irritated Palins of the time angrily hit the horn and went on their way.

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MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112204388.html

[villager]

1. actually, she doesn't even know about grizzlies, either -- just how to kill them

words like "habitat" and "watershed" would totally stump her.

so to speak.

[UpInArms]

2. I grew up in a strange place - rural - bigoted - uneducated

and the sign didn't say "colored" - it said:

"No Niggers In Town After Dark"

the first time I met someone "black" was in the 6th grade - her name was Rosanne

one day, riding the school bus home - in front of her house - the bus stopped

someone had hung their dog in the tree.

I saw it. I know how hard it was.

I become annoyed with the ignorance.

Sarah Failin' Palin can go fuck herself.

[Empowerer]

3. Thanks for posting - he really NAILED it, didn't he?

[impik]

4. Thanks for posting. It's one of the best columns that i've read lately