The Media Research Center has long been victims of Obama Derangement Syndrome, so it makes sense that it would descend into that yet again. Alex Christy complained in a Nov. 5 post:
All of the late night comedy shows taped their Tuesday episodes before the polls closed on Election Day, so that meant that CBS’s Stephen Colbert had plenty of time to talk with former First Lady Michelle Obama on The Late Show about her new book on fashion. While gushing over the fashion choices of a former first lady may seem like an odd choice for a comedy show, it was somehow worse than that, as the duo hyped the idea that Obama’s sense of fashion allowed her to get ahead of her allegedly racist critics.
Colbert described the book thusly: “It is called The Look. It is about your style and the soft power of fashion. And, you know, American culture as a part of our soft power. And fashion is a part of our culture.”
Christy then engagd in biased whining:
If Obama tried to use her sense of fashion as a political asset, over the years she has had a willing partner in the country’s news media, which has constantly helped the Obamas perpetuate the fiction that their critics simply don’t like seeing black people in power.
Christy helpfully provided links that prove Obama’s point. Noel Sheppard complained in 2009 that it was discussed that she wore shorts:
Are you tired of all the focus on what Michelle Obama wears?
Well, the good folks at the “Today” show certainly aren’t, for they spent a lot of time this week discussing whether or not the First Lady was dressed appropriately when she got off Air Force One Sunday on her way to the Grand Canyon.
As the nation grapples with such important issues as the ongoing recession and healthcare reform, NBC’s morning show actually spent TWO DAYS days talking about Michelle’s shorts.
This was joined by Clay Waters ranting that Obama’s fashion sense was discussed in the New York Times, Tim Graham harrumphing that she wore a sleeveless dress, Matthew Balan grumbing about an “apparent Obama-inspired fashion craze” and Graham returning to whine that Obama was reviewed better than Ann Romney (though, really, what is the justification for the $990 Oscar de la Renta T-shirt Romney wote?).
Christy offered no evidenfe that it was a “fiction” that Obama’s “critics simply don’t like seeing black people in power.”
Speaking of Graham, he followed with a Michelle-bashing Nov. 19 column:
When one of the most famous black women in America starts scolding the “white people,” you can feel the double standard marching to center stage. Imagine, for one second, Donald Trump lecturing the “black people” about being unreasonable. You only need one second to imagine the reaction.
Michelle Obama sat down in front of an audience in Brooklyn recently with actress Tracie Ellis Ross – whose ABC sitcom Black-ish had a mushy Michelle Obama cameo in 2022 – and launched into a tirade on black hair.
“Let me explain something to white people,” Michelle lectured the crowd. “Our hair comes out of our head naturally, in a curly pattern. So when we’re straightening it to follow your beauty standards, we are trapped! By the straightness.” White people are hair oppressors.
[…]Black activists have pushed legislation to prevent hair discrimination, which Michelle also lamented: “Why do we need an act — an act of law — to tell white folks to get outta our hair? Don’t tell me how to wear my hair, don’t wonder about it, don’t touch it. Just don’t!” The audience cheered.
If you took a poll, most Americans would say they don’t really care about black hair, they don’t object to it, they don’t need to touch it. But they certainly don’t need a lecture from a mega-wealthy former First Lady about how their curiosity and expectations are “exhausting.”
Graham ignored the point that Obama is right — states have introduced or approved bans on discrimination based on hair, and it’s not just “black activists” who support them. Like she said, if it didn’t exist, there would be no need to ban such discrimination.
Graham concluded:
Mrs. Obama complained in an interview with Stephen Colbert that the country carried this false impression that she was an “angry, bitter black woman.” Fact check: She often sounds angry and bitter, and like she’s making a face at the white people. We are always disappointing her by not worshiping her, like her carefully selected interviewers do.
Of course, Graham and his fellow MRC minions make sure to point out to their right-wing fellow travelers how angry and bitter Michelle Obama supposedly sounds — you know, like a black woman. Did we mention what Graham headlined his column? “Michelle Obama, Like Fancy Fingernails on a Chalkboard.” Yep, he’s trying hard to paint her as angry and bitter.