*Who didn’t see this coming?
Michelle Obama’s Sunday night surprise appearance at the Oscars — where she announced “Argo” the winner for best picture — is in the crosshairs of conservative pundits who are complaining that it was overkill.
The Oscars “had to throw her a crumb,” Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show, because the Obamas got snubbed. The “campaign ad” “Zero Dark Thirty” didn’t win, nor did “his semi-autobiography” Lincoln (“it’s about Obama, everybody knows that”).
And so they turned to Obama. It’s all about optics, Limbaugh said, and speaking of: Did you see how giant the screen was? She was the “dear leader” of a “totalitarian state,” he remarked, comparing it to Apple’s famous 1984 commercial.
Adding that some say it was “the opening salvo” of a presidential bid, that’s not it, he added. In this case, here’s the deal: “A private, behind-the-scenes battle between Harvey Weinstein and Steven Spielberg.” Weinstein, who helped arrange the first lady’s appearance, “wanted to show everybody that he’s bigger and more powerful than Spielberg,” after Spielberg got Bill Clinton at the Golden Globes.
Obama’s appearance “was out of place,” unnecessary, and “unneeded,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, over at Fox News, Bill O’Reilly wondered why the first lady got such a coveted spot in front of an estimated one billion people worldwide, when the same honor was never given to Republican first ladies Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush or Laura Bush?
O’Reilly told his guest, Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, that the move “smacked of Hollywood left boosterism” and a “pure propaganda play to make them glamorous.”
Quinn responded that Republicans “probably would have done it before if someone had thought of it,” calling it a “brilliant idea.” She went on to make a curious argument about the image that Michelle Obama, a “black woman” must have had across the world to people in “caves” and “huts” and “jungles” who “even if they hate America, they love American movies” and would therefore embrace her as an ambassador.
O’Reilly agreed that the first lady is a “positive” image for America, “particularly in the third world.” But he fundamentally disagreed that any Republican first lady would have gotten the chance to present at the Oscars, saying that it only happened because the all-powerful Harvey Weinstein decreed it. O’Reilly’s under no illusions that Hollywood isn’t run by liberals, but he said it’s his job to call out “propaganda” when he sees it.
Swinging over to CNN, Piers Morgan’s guest Donny Deutsch, who refers to himself as a “liberal,” went even further than Bill O’Reilly in sharing his distaste for what he referred to as the “uninvited guest.”
Deutsch made the point that when someone in Michelle Obama’s position appears on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” as she also did last week, the viewer gets to make the choice to tune in or not. But when she shows up at the most important moment during one of the most-watched television specials of the year, it’s an “intrusion” of politics that the viewer didn’t ask for. On top of that, he felt her appearance from the White House with members of the Marines standing behind her had a “monarch quality” to it that he found “tone deaf.”
Morgan brought in Jodi Kantor, who covers the Obama White House for The New York Times, to help explain the “charm offensive” strategy behind the first lady’s media appearances. But Deutsch, who pointed out he was working for President Bill Clinton when he went on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” wasn’t buying it.
He continued to push his premise that the first lady looked too “regal” on screen, at which point the only Brit in the room, Piers Morgan, had to jump in. “She wasn’t standing there ‘regally,’” Morgan said. “She’s not a queen. She’s standing in the White House with the Marines who work in the White House.” Morgan admitted that he saw nothing wrong with the appearance and didn’t see what all the fuss was about. He even went so far as to say the Oscars could be a step towards the first lady pursuing a political career of her own.
“If she ever does that,” Kantor responded, “I will come back on your show and I will physically eat my book one page at a time.”
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I watched part of the show in passing and when I looked up and saw her on there, my first thought was “Why is SHE there? Why is she everywhere now?” I am fairly confident I was not the only non-rightwinger with that reaction. She was on a radio show being interviwed this morning and I turned off the radio. She is doing too much now, dabbling too much in the entertainment zone. That fame bug is serious! These people start to think they’re the Messiah and should be omnipresent, everywhere all the time, lol. Um no. Sometimes less is more. Jmo
and to put this way over the top, she surrounded herself with military people as props. the reporters waiting to interview the winners of the oscars let out a collective groan when they saw her. guess harvey, raising all those mega bucks for her husband, not only gains access to the white house,it allows him to use michelle in a cameo in his oscar extravaganza. power andmega bucks, i thought obama was going to change all that. and never in a million years would anyonein liberal hollywood have considered putting a republican first lady in that position. they would have walked out enmasse upon seeing her.
TGen, here’s how it went down:
“Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s teenage daughter came up with the idea to have Michelle Obama make a surprise appearance at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Audiences were stunned when President Barack Obama’s wife appeared live via satellite link from the White House to declare Ben Affleck’s “Argo” the winner of the coveted Best Picture statuette.
Organizers managed to keep her cameo under wraps and even Affleck admitted he was shocked, telling reporters, “I was sort of hallucinating when that was happening. Over the course of a hallucination, it doesn’t seem that odd. Oh, a purple elephant. Oh, Michelle Obama. I was just asking these two guys outside, ‘Was that Michelle Obama?’ In retrospect, anyway it was very cool.”
Oh Please!!! I was surprised when they panned ot the WH and Mrs Obama was standing there, not expecting her, she announced the Best Picture Oscar, BIG DEAL!!! the way the insane RIGHT acts you would thinks she murdered someone, it is a done deal now GET OVER IT!!!!
I arrived home a few minutes before she appeared and was quite stunned myself. They wanted a surprise twist and managed to pull it off without a hitch. There are lots of write-ups about how they planned it. I must say I enjoyed that lil surprise at the end.
@ Melody, I enjoyed seeing FLOTUS also and I do not see the harm in her appearing on the telecast, some people just love to WHINE! about every darn thing the The First Family does, it has gotten annoying now. I am glad Mrs Obama does not let what other people think and say dictate her she performs as FLOTUS.
correction- dictates how she performs as FLOTUS
babycakes, I thought MO handled it beautifully and I’m glad she doesn’t give a good goddamned either. That’s what really stick in Limbaugh’s craw…fat fukk!
to take it a step further if Nancy Reaagan, laura Bush or Hillary ewere asked ot do the presentation when they were FLOTUS or even if the stepford wife Ann Romney was asked if Mitt- Robot Romney had of won I would not have cared much ado about nothing!!
You have to admit the ratings have been down for the Academy Awards for some time and I thought it was really nice and she looked gorgeous. No matter what her and the President do, some people are still having an issue with a black president and a black first lady…too bad these same assholes didn’t have much to say when George Bush went on national television trying to convince us the war in Iraq was needed only for Bin Laden to be found in Pakistan…white people never cease to amaze me…
BUT THEY DIDN’T DO IT. That is the point. This president doesn’t have to make an appearance before every Superbowl and his wife doesn’t have to appear on Kimmel, then the Academy Awards, then the View, then Tom Joyner’s show. Your tolerance for overexposure is low and that is okay, but it does not mean that everyone who criticizes the beloved Obamas are rightwing conservatives.
Yes. This is another example of how we’ve “popularized” the highest office in the entire world.
I think it’s great for my teenage daughter to see Mrs Obama all the time. It’s great that young AA women who DON”T look like Beyonce, Alicia, Halle, Mariah or any of the other lIght skinned blonde hair wearing AA celebrities can see someone who looks like them getting the magazine covers, and tv guest spots. I’m sure Mrs O is aware of this too and remembers how it felt not to see anyone who looks like you representing for you a majority of the time because they look more like what white America is comfortable with.
After how the media did Quevenshane, Gabby (the gymnast), the Williams sisters and Mrs O herself I’m happy to see her beautiful Brown skin all up on the tv and in magazines!
You know what TGen I agree with you. I admire The First Lady but a little less exposure would be nice unless it’s dealing with important issues. But it also shows how much she is well liked and accessible.