The right wing’s hideous crusade against Michelle Obama has completely fallen apart

For years, the likes of Rush Limbaugh have lobbed racist, sexist invective at the First Lady. But it didn't matter

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

From the moment Michelle Obama burst on to the national scene back in 2008, she inspired a level of right wing loathing only slightly less intense than that visited on her husband. Indeed, there have been times it has seemed as though they hated her even more. Recall that in the 2008 campaign, she was excoriated for saying,”for the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” Conservative commentators such as the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol tut-tutted her comments and offered sage advice:

“You have to be careful not to let that slide into a kind of indictment of America. Because I don’t think the American people think on the whole that the last 25 years of American history is a narrative of despair and nothing to be proud of.”

What a difference seven years makes. The current GOP front runner, Donald Trump’s, entire campaign is based upon a “narrative of despair” in which America has become a dystopian hellscape led by fools and idiots. He says, “they’re up here, we’re down there. Our leaders are babies…our country is falling apart,” and it’s all good. But then he isn’t Michelle Obama.

Obama has been an exemplary first lady and is extremely popular with the public, having shown good humor and style throughout her tenure; so it’s been very difficult for the right to find anything to criticize.That hasn’t stopped them, of course. There is nothing even remotely controversial about her work with military families, a constituency they feel belongs to them, so anything they might pounce on there is an unlikely target for GOP ire. But this mother of two daughters having the temerity to initiate a program to encourage kids to eat healthy foods and exercise has sent them into fits of hysteria.

Think about that: Something adults have been doing since the beginning of time — telling kids to eat their vegetables and go outside to play — is a Marxist plot to destroy the fabric of our civilization. Here’s an example from Media Matters of the commentary from noted health and fitness expert Rush Limbaugh:

LIMBAUGH: Michelle My Belle, minus the husband, took the kids out to Vail on a ski vacation, and they were spotted eating and they were feasting on ribs, ribs that were 1,575 calories per serving with 141 grams of fat per serving. Now I’m sure some of you members of the new castrati: “This is typical of what you do Mr. Limbaugh, you take an isolated, once in a lifetime experience, and try to say that she’s a hypocrite.” She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we’re supposed to go out and eat nothing — if we’re supposed to eat roots, and berries and tree bark and so show us how. And if it’s supposed to make us fit, if it’s supposed to make us healthier, show us how.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/09/03/the_right_wings_hideous_crusade_against_michelle_obama_has_completely_fallen_apart/