More From Michelle Obama

by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: After a series of embarrassing statements, one political columnist recently noted that the Clinton campaign has sent husband Bill, Hillary's former "campaigner-in-chief," to a "secure, undisclosed location until the election is over." Perhaps Barack Obama might want to consider something similar for his wife, Michelle.

While Barack's rhetoric has been largely positive and uplifting (if empty and devoid of substance), Michelle's has been downright mean. In fact, that is precisely how she has described life in America. Here is how the New Yorker magazine described Michelle Obama's stump speech: "Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we're a divided country, we're a country that is 'just downright mean,' we are 'guided by fear,' we're a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents."

According to Michelle Obama, "We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day. Folks are just jammed up, and it's gotten worse over my lifetime." But wait, she's not done. "The life that I'm talking about that most people are living has gotten progressively worse since I was a little girl. . So if you want to pretend like there was some point over the last couple of decades when your lives were easy, I want to meet you!"

Let's see, if we turn back the clock a "couple of decades," before life in America was so miserable under George W. Bush, the Republican Congress and Ronald Reagan, I guess Michelle Obama wants to take us back to the 1970s - to the "glory days" of the Carter malaise! If Michelle Obama really does believe life in America is getting progressively worse and our country is "downright mean," I suppose that explains why she has never before found a reason to be proud of America.

But, while Michelle Obama is bashing American life, she and her husband are actually doing quite well. Thanks to their friendship with Tony Rezko, the Obama's moved into a $1.6 million mansion just a few years ago. Since her husband got elected to the United States Senate, Michelle Obama's salary increased from $120,000 a year to over $300,000 a year. And in 2005, Michelle and Barack's combined income was almost $1.7 million.

Folks, I'm not trying to downplay the very real problems that many Americans do face. But the Obama's are living proof that the American Dream is real and still achievable. They have done quite well in this "downright mean" country. And while it is true that many Americans tell pollsters that the country is "headed in the wrong direction," I believe much of that anxiety is due to America's growing virtue deficit and the coarsening of our culture, which is getting progressively worse. Somehow, I don't think that is what Michelle Obama was complaining about. Sadly, on those values issues, her husband offers no hope, and the change he proposes would only accelerate America's moral decline.
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Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. 

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