Ramesh Ponnuru asks:
Why did Valerie Jarrett call Michelle Obama the "first woman" on Meet the Press? Is "first lady" insufficiently PC these days? (It's so hard to keep up.)
A Freudian slip? After all, unlike the President, she is a gal from a working class neighborhood, and not automatically part of "Them". When she wrote her thesis at Princeton it was this observation of subtle upper class racism (as opposed to the "Archie Bunker" types, who are openly racist but live in the neighborhood and interact with their black neighbors).
Or is it jealousy: That she doesn't have to cover up her upper arms, and dares to show cleavage?
If a Republican did it it would be called racist.
there is actually a web page on Michelle HERE.
You see, Lady has connotations of poise, grace, and dignity. And despite the sniping of the uppity class, Michelle is indeed a lady.
The equivalent for a male spouse of a head of state is "first Gentleman" (or FG as they call him here in the Philippines).
Calling her a first 'woman" implies she is lower class, and an insult.
No comments:
Post a Comment