Who I've taken some shots at. Here is, courtesy of Andrew, a genuine response to Michelle's speech.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Thanks for posting that. My jaw dropped when I watched that last night. All I could think was, Poor Juan Williams. He has to share this profound moment with Bill fucking Kristol, Fred Barnes, and Brit "Sam the Eagle" Hume.
Though watching those yahoos try to recover after Williams finished was price.less.
Finally Juan admits that there is something special going on here! I didn't expect him to choke up but I'm glad he did. As a young black woman who is not yet married nor have children, I was inspired by Michelle Obama to continue to pursue my dreams and eventually build a family of my own. Their collective strength is palpable and beautiful.
But back to Mr. Williams. He has been killing me this entire election. At times his critique of Obama had been like a crack addict sifting through shag carpet for a bit of rock that just isn't there. He needs to admit that this is an amazing moment in history to be relished by himself and the other Civil Rights era establishment.
I heard Williams on Diane Rheem this spring saying that Obama lied when he called himself a professor. Dianne read a letter from University of Chicago stating that he was indeed a professor and Williams stomp his foot and said I don't care what they say Obama is lying.
That is the level of stupid Williams plays on.
Tiana,
"...himself and the other Civil Rights era establishment..."
my recollection of williams is that he was a bit more grounded before he firmly established himself as fox's house n----r, but i think he's a bit young to be considered part of that era's establishment.
in fact, i think of williams as being from obama's era, though he may be a bit older.
from that civil rights era, i think of jesse jackson's contemporaries, and when i think of williams, i think of someone who came just after that time.
but it's a small matter.
williams is a pitiful embarrassment.
he truly jumped the shark when he defended o'reilly after he made the racist remarks about eating dinner in the black establishment and being surprised that black folks were acting like...well, human beings.
when i see him shuckin and jivin with that knukledragger it takes all of my will to keep from losing my lunch.
he is unfortunately too typical of the kind of negro male that tv allows on. a clarence page-type who smiles and shuffles and confirms all the racist crap that his benefactors spew forth, all the while grinning and laughing, showing all of his teeth, as he collects his fat paycheck.
i agree that he did good last night with his comments on fox last night about michelle obama, but his presence and happy negro act on fox does far more damage than one night can overcome.
That was beautiful.
I think--as I've said before, at Ta-Nehisi's previous home--there's something deeply fucked about how white America (probably black America, too, but what do I know?) thinks about racism. There's the idea that being 'color-blind' is anti-racist, instead of another form of racism, and there's the idea that racism is such a horrific belief that it's confined to the fringes, and there's the feeling that racism is such a sin that only evil people are racist.
Accusations of racism are treated as if they're pointing to a unique moral failing instead of a ubiquitious social failing. This creates all kinds of traps and double-binds.
One of these traps, I think, is that you don't see many whites saying, 'Holy shit. Michelle Obama ... to see a black woman on that stage, in that role ... it's breathtaking. It's awesome.' Whites are afraid of reducing Obama to her race (well, I'm talking about halfway sensible whites, not 'race card! race card!' whites) so most of us tiptoe around that. Which is, of course, another form of racism.
You'd have to be incredibly callous, ignorant, and self-involved not to be moved by that moment--not by Michelle Obama herself (you can dislike her, that's fine) but by her presence in that role. I mean, we're watching a moment in history, a beautiful and long-overdue moment in our country's history.
I listened to Mrs. O's speech on the radio and was totally impressed with the content and delivery. She's an accomplished woman who could easily inspire any individual.
I still disagree fundamentally with the neosocialist/collectivist/communitarian direction of the Donkey Party, but that doesn't diminish the fact that the Obamas have vaulted from a series of personal accomplishments into celebrity status because they do so well at inspiring people.
i am a single white mom with 3 kids. what i saw was a beautiful, intact family that i wish i still had.
never been a fan of juan williams.
i'm printing out her speech and reading it to give me inspiration and strength.
Beyond the significance of Michelle's moment & words on that stage (or coupled with that significance, perhaps), I found myself moved by their marriage & family. So many of us come from fractured families and communities -- I'm a 40 year-old white woman from a struggling working class family in Texas, where there was very little hope and a great deal of resignation and anger and parental neglect -- and I was moved to tears by the images of Michelle's brother, her proud mother, her sacrificing father, and the way those girls so clearly live in the love of their own father. Anyone who can't see that or feel that, it seems to me, is willfully choosing to minimize the foundation upon which so much else depends and through which our odds in life shift so dramatically. That alone seems to me a success that many of us ache for and long for. And to see it writ large on that stage last night gave me great personal comfort and hope. I have no idea how the GOP has managed to hoodwink so many millions of people into thinking their party represents goodness and virtue and decency and integrity. And here I will invoke Biden & what he'll do with his rosary beads; he will not abide that morality scam one minute longer. I'm with Sullivan, tho he hasn't posted the words in a while: Know hope.
Similar reaction from the less contemptible Eugene Robinson on MSNBC.
that was a very powerful moment...i cant describe the disappointment I'll feel if Ibama loses this year...
I was so shocked. When I first clicked on the link, I did it out of curiosity. After all, Williams has gulped so much haterade this election cycle, I didn't think he had an honest emotion left. That he was so brutally honest and emotional sitting on stage with THAT bunch of jokers... you can't script stuff like that.
Did I really hear the words 'hall' 'saw' 'enthrall' and 'applause' in the same sentence? Was he speaking in rhyming couplets or something?
Was Juan Williams choked up, or what? That's unbelievable. I really would've like to see what the response was from the panel there at Fox. I'm sure they weren't too thrilled with his response.
Did someone really call Juan Williams a "house n----r"? That is wrong. What is wrong is that you impugn his motives, treat him like a guy exclusively looking after his own skin.
If you read his book, even if you disagreed, the man cares about things bigger than himself, he's accomplished a fair amount, and he deserves some politeness.
KWiz, it was amazing. Everyone at the table had the wind totally taken out of their sails. They stammered about how it likely wouldn't change the minds of people who'd decided not to like Michelle, but then they all just kinda trailed off, forced to admit that this moment deserved some respect.
It took Chris Wallace down on the floor of the hall to steer them back on track with the "wasted event" idea-worm you keep hearing today.
happy for you, black people! i feel a sort of attachment to obama myself - i mean, the man is clearly a nerd, and as a fellow nerd it feels good to see him succeed on his own nerdy terms. (not embarrassed to be obviously intellectual, etc.) also he's a man who grew up between cultures, and i identify with that and think that it adds to his understanding of the world. hm, it's true that he's like this canvas that lots of different people project themselves onto.
also, i envy sen. obama's beautiful family. good for them.
Before we get too carried away here ...
It's a convention speech. And therefore by definition propaganda. She did it well, but I don't think it was content or delivery so much as the auspiciousness of the setting and the person who delivered it, which is what Williams was getting at.
In any case, it's interesting to hear Williams repeat "Black family", and African American -- over and over, it seems. Kinda shocking given that he hasn't been a friend to Obama or indeed of the Dems in general, so what he was feeling right at the moment had to be pretty powerful to get beyond the Fox News filter.
I'm sure people will get on his case (as well as the Obama campaign's) nod to the Black bourgeoisie in the form of a "positive image of the Black family", but I'll lay off. I can't imagine what it must feel to be Black in America and seeing this happening right now, esp. as someone old enough to have seen the worst incidents of racial divide and to see the inequality linger into the millennium.