Questions about Michelle Obama

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Questions about Michelle Obama

Summary of the eRumor:
Michelle Obama, the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama, has popped up in eRumors in 2008 about two issues. One is that she is alleged to have said during the campaign that for the first time in her adult lifetime she is proud of her country. There are also questions about why her graduate thesis from Princeton University has been classed as restricted until after November 5th, 2008, which is one day after the general election.

The Truth:
Did Michelle Obama say "For the first time in my adult lifetime I am proud of my country?"-Truth!
It was during speeches in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin on February 18, 2008.

In Milwaukee she said, "People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

In Madison, she said, "“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country … not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment.”

A spokesperson for the Obama Campaign, Jan Psake, said Michelle Obama was not trying to knock her country but rather to "underscore the meaning behind her husband's campaign." She added, "The point is that of course Michelle is proud of her country, which is why she and Barack talk constantly about how their story wouldn’t be possible in any other nation on Earth. What she meant is that she’s really proud at this moment because for the first time in a long time, thousands of Americans who’ve never participated in politics before are coming out in record numbers to build a grassroots movement for change.”

Critics, however, seized upon her statement and wondered aloud why there would not be any other times in her adult life when she felt proud of her country.

Has Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis been restricted for any public release until after November 5?-Previously Truth! But it has now been released from restriction!

Princeton University released the thesis to the public on March 25, 2008, after criticism of the fact that it was being held for release until the day after the general election.

The thesis was written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson. At Princeton, Michelle Obama focused on sociology and earned a certificate in African-American studies.

The title of the thesis was "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."

An article in the Daily Princetonian from March 26, 2008, quoted the thesis as examining "...how the attitudes of black alumni have changed over the course of their time at the University" and "...whether they will become more or less motivated to benefit the black community."

She surveyed 89 black graduates of Princeton and concluded from her research that "attending the University as an undergraduate decreased the extent to which black alumni identified with the black community as a whole."

No explanation has been given for why the thesis was restricted for public access, although that can be requested by an alumnus.

Updated 3/26/08

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Read past all the rhetoric to the part about Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis. I find this alarming.

Michelle Obama, wife of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama, shocked a lot of people recently when she said this: "For the first time in my adult lifetime I am proud of my country." Wow! That takes my breath away.

Mrs. Obama is 44 years old, so for over roughly 24 years of "adulthood," taking her at her word, she has never been proud of our nation.
Is there a theme here? You may remember that last year Senator Obama said he refused to wear a flag lapel pin because it represented a "substitute for true patriotism." And what precisely is true patriotism? According to Senator Barack Hussein Obama, it is opposing the war in Iraq.

Apparently nothing America did from 1982 to 2008 caused her heart to swell with pride. Not our successful effort to defeat Soviet communism and liberate millions of people in Eastern Europe? Not our relief efforts around the world, through which we spent billions to help the downtrodden?

Not anything? When she learned with all the rest of us how her fellow citizens on United Flight 93 bravely fought back against jihadist hijackers and prevented another disaster on September 11th, did she not fill up with pride?

As Americans of all races and classes rallied together in defense of our nation in the aftermath of September 11th, did her spirit not jump with love for her homeland? Apparently not.

The Obamas are living examples of the American Dream. Both Michelle Obama and her husband have Ivy League degrees. They make a joint income of over One Million Dollars a year. They live lives that most ordinary Americans
can only dream of.

Yet, Mrs. Obama, who wants to be First Lady, has been unable to find the pride in America that millions of ordinary Americans feel every day.

Sadly, her attitude is not rare among leftwing American elites. We are "educating" millions of Americans to be Globalists first and foremost, and we are doing precious little about educating our children to be Proud and Unashamed Americans.

**The Obamas are flying high politically right now, but I don't believe many Americans will want to cast their votes this November for a couple so out of touch with traditional American values.**

"For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country," Michelle Obama....."What she meant was, this is the first time that she's been proud of the politics of America," Barack Obama

HOWEVER, nowhere in there does she leave space for, allude to, or specify a reference to American politics.

She's a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer, and she can't specify between her country and its politics???

ALSO, "Why Is Michelle Obama's Princeton Thesis *Restricted* Until November 5th"?
1985 Princeton senior Thesis entitled: "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community,"
http://libweb5.princeton.edu/theses/thesesid.asp?ID=9867

Princeton University Senior Theses Full Record
TITLE: Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community [Restricted until November 5, 2008] (96 pages).
AUTHOR: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson (1985), Sociology Department ADVISOR: Not available
LOCATED AT: Mudd Library.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama lamented that white professors and classmates always saw her as "Black first and a student second." She had surveyed alumni to see whether they sacrificed their commitment to other blacks on the altar of success, and foresaw for herself an uneasy future: "further integration and/or assimilation into a White cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."...

As Michelle Obama wrote in her thesis introduction, "My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before. I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong."...

Michelle Obama was guided in her choice of thesis topic by a consuming concern that her success might compromise her black identity.

As she wrote in her conclusion: "I wondered whether or not my education at Princeton would affect my identification with the Black community. I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with Whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that Black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility."...

Michelle Obama's fears of losing touch with her roots without ever being embraced into the mainstream led her to promise, in her thesis introduction, "to actively utilize my resources to benefit the Black community."

Her thesis is the ONLY one on the 449-result long list *restricted until a specific date: November 5th*.
What's the significance of November 5th? Well, it's a Wednesday. Oh, and it's the day after the General Election... !!!!!!