Michelle Obama is not a militant, a victim, or an albatross

NPR’s Juan Williams went on Bill O’Reilly’s show and said this about Michelle Obama:

WILLIAMS: Yeah. And let me just — let me just tell you this: If you think about liabilities for President Obama that are close to him — Joe Biden’s up there — but Michelle Obama’s right there. Michelle Obama, you know —
O’REILLY: But it’s not her fault in the sense that —
WILLIAMS: — she’s got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going. If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine suggested, her instinct is to start with this “blame America,” you know, “I’m the victim.” If that stuff starts to come out —
O’REILLY: Yeah, it’ll be death.
WILLIAMS: — people will go bananas —
O’REILLY: Right.
WILLIAMS: — and she’ll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross.

As dnA points out, sounds like somebody took that New Yorker cover to heart. Clearly, in the cable news world, an outspoken woman of color is downright militant when she’s anything more than demure arm candy. There’s no middle ground: she’s either a passive object or an active threat.
And in what world is Michelle Obama a potential “albatross”?! The fact that Barack Obama’s partner is a strong and outspoken woman is a good thing. Where Juan Williams sees a militant, a victim, an albatross, most women see dignified strength, intelligence, grace, and independence. Talk about going bananas.
Video is below the fold.

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