Michelle Obama: "Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual."

[Wretched Excess]

"Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual."

Last night I appeared on Hugh's show, and his producer Duane mentioned a Michelle Obama speech at UCLA. Captain Ed talked about this a bit, but I hadn't seen anyone transcribe the part of the speech where it gets a little... unnerving. It starts at about 8:41 in the audio.

    Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

I'm sorry, nowhere in the Constitution does it authorize the President of the United States to demand anyone shed their cynicism. And I'm all for people pushing themselves to be better, but I don't think the President demanding it is the way to go about it.

And what if we kind of like our lives as usual? What about Americans' freedom to be uninvolved and uninformed?

Darleen at Protein Wisdom transcribed what follows:

    "You have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eights years from now, you will have to be engaged."

Ah. Apparently apathy will be criminalized, then?

Does anybody on the left side of the aisle find this rhetoric a little creepy? Isn't this describing an authoritarian presidency way beyond anything George W. Bush has done or proposed?

Do the powers of the presidency really encompass everything Michelle says Obama wants and plans to do? Based on this rhetoric, isn't he actually running for messiah?

UPDATE: A great line from reader Mike: "That tingle going up Chris Matthews' leg is a shiver going down my spine."

ANOTHER UPDATE: For a contrasting view, Dan Riehl thinks it's not creepy, just high-minded political rhetoric. "I don't think Lincoln was thinking term limits when he invoked the better angels of our nature."

I don't know. I know presidents don't like cynicism. I know they often urge us not to be cynical. But I don't know if I like talk of a president "demanding" citizens "shed their cynicism." Liberty isn't just about the good stuff; we ought to be free to be cynical. Our leaders demand enough as is in income taxes.

And while presidential candidates are always going on about building bridges to coming centuries and building a better tomorrow, etc., I think pledging to end "life as usual" ought to be sending up red flags. Barring us from going back to our "lives as usual" is not in the job description, and shouldn't be.

link

speechless.  The BarackStar! isn't running for president.  he really is running for God.

[RedTail]

Tom Cruise. . .we have located your crazy. . .

Wasn't with Ron Paul, like we thought.

*TKay*

[formerlurker]

He is going to force you to be engaged because he is going to scare the absolute life out of you with his domestic and foreign policies.

When the war gets moved to our soil, everyone is kind of going to have to take notice.

What a plan Osama!

[Chris_]

He is going to force you to be engaged because he is going to scare the absolute life out of you with his domestic and foreign policies.

When the war gets moved to our soil, everyone is kind of going to have to take notice.

What a plan Osama!

Yep...we'll be screaming for an armed militia, but the new gun elimination laws will make that impossible.  Just what the terrorists want...the war over here and they have all the guns.

[Wretched Excess]

michelle obama is violating the first rule of presidential campaigning by becoming newsworthy herself.

In Nevada she told a crowd that "Barack is one of the smartest men we will see in our lifetime."


Link

more amazing speechifying goodness from Mrs. BarackStar! at the link.

[NHSparky]

What's the current Vegas over/under line on stupid shit coming out of Michelle Obama's mouth between now and Denver?

[DixieBelle]

I'm stocking up on popcorn and tylenol. This woman in on my radar. I plan on watching the black Clintons closely.

[Atomic Lib Smasher]

All hail Barackath Obamath! 

He'll not let you go back to your life as usual, and he will require you to work............. in the rice patties.

[Chris_]

Barack Obama will require you to work...

WOW!!!  Major error alert!!!  That statement right there will piss off a lot of DUmmies and other entitlement moonbats.  WTH was she thinking???

[Lord Undies]

I've talked with a couple of Obamaites who are already beginning to sour on the guy.  It could be a trend.  Too much rich goodness soon turns into a stomach ache.  

This shooting star has streaked too soon.  The Magic Negro could soon be the Tragic Zero.

[Atomic Lib Smasher]

I've talked with a couple of Obamaites who are already beginning to sour on the guy.  It could be a trend.  Too much rich goodness soon turns into a stomach ache. 

This shooting star has streaked too soon.  The Magic Negro could soon be the Tragic Zero.

Must have been that whole "require you to work" jargon. Doesn't bode well with the Cheeto munching basement dwellers.

[NHSparky]

That whole line of reasoning reminds me of the Dead Kennedy's song "Holiday in Cambodia":

For those not familiar:

So you been to school for a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car thinkin' you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl
Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin that you know how
the ******s feel cold
And the slums got so much soul

It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
Brace yourself, my dear

It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife

Your a star-belly sneech you suck like a leech
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich
But your boss gets richer on you
Well you'll work harder with
a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers til you starve
Then your head skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need my son:

Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll kiss ass or crack

Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot [ etc. ]

And it's a holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what you're told
A holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul

POL POT!