Michelle Obama: A salute to military families
By Michelle Obama
Navy Times
On Tuesday, as people from all walks of life come together in common purpose to begin the work of renewing America’s promise, my daughters and I will stand beside my husband as he takes the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States.
People have asked me how I’ll feel at that moment. As a wife, I’ll be thinking about how proud I am of my husband and how I believe so deeply that he will be an extraordinary president. As a mother, I’ll be bursting with pride at the thought of my girls now being able to envision endless choices for themselves and the joy it will be to watch them grow up in the White House. And as a daughter, I’ll be profoundly grateful to my parents, knowing that I am here only because of their lifetime of faith and hard work.
They’re my proof that the American promise endures. It’s that promise we all share — that our children might grow up with unlimited possibility, that our families might know the dreams of opportunity and prosperity, that people in every nation might look at the proud banner of this country and know the boundless meaning of hope.
As I take on my newest role — first lady — I’ll be thinking about what that promise means to all those whom I’ve had the humbling privilege to meet these past two years on the campaign trail: Americans across the country who opened their doors and hearts to share their stories with me — stories I carry to this day.
I particularly cherished my visits with military families all across the country. I met so many strong and inspiring military spouses eager to share their stories, their dreams for the future and the unique challenges they face because of their families’ selfless service to our country.
And if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that when our servicemen and women go to war, their families go with them. I saw how they take care of each other, heard how they fill in whenever the system fails and discovered that the trials they faced always were matched by the hope they shared that better days are still ahead.
The simple 35-word oath my husband will take and the peaceful transfer of power it completes makes it easy to forget that the great fortune of our citizenship isn’t free at all. It’s a responsibility inherited only because generations of Americans have fought and bled and died for it.
So as I watch Barack take that oath, I’ll be thinking especially about those members of our American family who stand guard across the world and the loved ones who await their safe return. Because even as we mark this moment in American history, there still will be empty seats at the dinner table; there still will be spouses struggling to juggle roles and responsibilities; there still will be children who mark the passing of a birthday without Mommy and toddlers who know their father only by a grainy video stream from a far-flung corner of the globe.
My husband and I are deeply grateful for the sacrifices that these families make to protect all American families. And we join them — today and every day — in praying for their loved ones and their safety. They don’t ask a lot in return, just a Washington that understands the challenges they face as part of their extraordinary commitment to our country.
My husband understands that commitment, and he will ensure America lives up to its end. As military families join us on Tuesday, in person and in spirit, I want each and every one of them to know that for as long as I have the tremendous honor of being your first lady, your voices will be heard, you will have an advocate in the White House, and the American promise you preserve always will extend to you, too.
All of us can learn a fundamental lesson from our military families: You don’t need to wear a uniform to serve your country. We all have something to contribute to the life of this nation.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And to honor the legacy of a man who believed that everybody could be great because anybody can serve, my family and I will spend the day performing activities in service to others. And we’ll ask all Americans to join us in making an ongoing commitment to serve their community and their country, because in this new season of hope, that’s the only way we’ll begin renewing America’s promise for all who reach for it and all who defend it — as one nation and one people.
On Tuesday night, my husband and I will tuck in our daughters like we always do. Their bedrooms will be different, their home unfamiliar. But they will drift off to sleep protected by that same sacrifice that has kept all of our families safe and safeguarded our freedom for generations — the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and their families.
For that, we could not be more grateful — or more proud.
.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
“On Tuesday, as people from all walks of life come together in common purpose to begin the work of renewing America’s promise”
Michelle, America never stopped keeping it’s promise to me, nor to you. You just would not appreciate what America was about and what has made it the greatest country in the entire world.
“As a mother, I’ll be bursting with pride at the thought of my girls now being able to envision endless choices for themselves and the joy it will be to watch them grow up in the White House. And as a daughter, I’ll be profoundly grateful to my parents, knowing that I am here only because of their lifetime of faith and hard work.”
Excuse me babe, but your daughters had the chance for those choices from the day they were born. It did not just happen because ole don’t talk about my ears got elected.
You say ….”I’ll be profoundly grateful to my parents, knowing that I am here only because of their lifetime of faith and hard work.”
Excuse me Michelle, if it were not for Republicans fighting to free your people long ago you would be cleaning bathrooms in the White House and not moving in to be First Lady. I am so sick of the blacks on the left not getting this, not realizing it and not acknowledging this information when it is presented to them step by step.
“They’re my proof that the American promise endures. It’s that promise we all share — that our children might grow up with unlimited possibility, that our families might know the dreams of opportunity and prosperity, that people in every nation might look at the proud banner of this country and know the boundless meaning of hope.”
America was the symbol of FREEDOM and HOPE and the American dream but your husband and all he has said in his life teach us one thing. Socialism is HIS hope his dream and it is wrapped in communism and Marxism in a tight bow. There is NO Freedom in his dream since he wants to squash it.
“The simple 35-word oath my husband will take and the peaceful transfer of power it completes makes it easy to forget that the great fortune of our citizenship isn’t free at all. It’s a responsibility inherited only because generations of Americans have fought and bled and died for it.”
Michelle, that “simple oath” you refer to has the weight of meaning in it beyond what your husband understands. His speaking out against our Constitution will make his taking this oath have no meaning at all. He has dishonored that very oath even before taking it by not be qualified to be President.
“makes it easy to forget that the great fortune of our citizenship isn’t free at all”
Speak for yourself ! You are the only one in any political campaign that has ever said “this is the first time ” you are proud of America or proud to be an American. We Americans do not forget, so don’t get on your high horse and tell us how easy it is to forget. YOU have NOT earned that right!!!!
“My husband understands that commitment“….your husband doesn’t have a clue about the commitment of our troops and their loved one. More BS and more lies!
“Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And to honor the legacy of a man who believed that everybody could be great because anybody can serve, my family and I will spend the day performing activities in service to others. “
Now look Michelle, OMG the ego you have is shocking. Do you realize by comparing community organizing, volunteering in ones community to those serving ones country in the military is a night and day difference. When was a soup kitchen volunteer sleeping in a hole dug out in the ground, with rain pouring down on them and bugs creeping in and out of their uniform, skin itching because a bath was a luxury. When was a hospice volunteer walking the perimeter at great risk for their life of being killed with an IED or getting shot by the enemy.
It is wonderful that people volunteer Michelle, but to compare the two is an insult to our troops, and an insult to what our Veterans.
One more thing, you may not know this but there are thousands of people in our country that volunteer from their hearts and never expect to be thanked or praised and most certainly they would never offer how they are going to a-hem ” perform activities in service to others”. Why the word perform and why not just be more specific in what you plan to do. HUH? Come on name one thing, I have time to wait for you to come up with something.
Sorry Michelle, you entire essay is a kiss up to our military and their families, and not sincere. OH you have thrown in the lingo sporadically but the things in between are the real Michelle and because of that it takes back any of the good you have tried to say.
It really does sound like she’s full of herself, doen’t it? America’s promise started long before the Revolution. There were peoples of color here-whites, blacks, indians and some orientals who built this land from wilderness to the great land that she is today. It wasn’t just her family. It’s not all about her. It was tough on our ancestors-they had to tomahawk their land area (mark the perimeter with a tomahawk chop to trees), cut down trees for a house, tend the land for crops, raise animals for food, sew their own clothes, have a family and somehow not go completely insane while watching out for wild animals and indians!
And there are parents out there who try their best to do what’s right by their kids, but the dream of a college education is always just beyond their grip, but they are just as proud as their child holding down a job and not running the streets at night. They are just as proud when a child buys their first car, rents their first apartment, pays their first bills or even bakes a loaf of bread for the first time. Some kids aren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouths like Malia and Sasha. I watched my oldest daughter perform in school plays and musicals, sing in the choir and play her trumpet in the band and cheered as loud as any mother would. I’m my children’s biggest cheerleader! I’ve watched my little one grow and endure ear surgery after ear surgery and how wonderful a kid she really is! She’s outgoing and not afraid of anything but the dark!
I really cannot stand people like Bitchelle. She feels entitled to her position in life and well, that burns me up!
Funny, I just emailed you another article about MEchelle.
She’s unbearable. The fact that she can’t keep her big flappin trap shut will be her downfall, even with those who adore the big cow now.
I don’t have to respect her. She doesn’t respect me, unconditionally, because I’m white. Period.
Beautiful slap-down, WT! You did a MOST excellent job.
You say ….”I’ll be profoundly grateful to my parents, knowing that I am here only because of their lifetime of faith and hard work.”
“Excuse me Michelle, if it were not for Republicans fighting to free your people long ago you would be cleaning bathrooms in the White House and not moving in to be First Lady. I am so sick of the blacks on the left not getting this, not realizing it and not acknowledging this information when it is presented to them step by step.”
You GO, WT!!!
I cant believe this rhetoric from Michelle Obama. Her remarks on the campaign trail, her associations and her college thesis are all opposite of these remarks.
No doubt in my mind that if Obama had lost, Michelle would be bitching up a storm about racism and lack of promise for Blacks. We will certainly miss Laura Bush and Michelle make also make us miss Hillary a bit.
“Excuse me Michelle, if it were not for Republicans fighting to free your people long ago you would be cleaning bathrooms in the White House and not moving in to be First Lady.”
THANK YOU!!! I always say if they want “reparations” how about the Blood of 620,000 Americans Both North and South. Is that not payment enough? Do they want the South forever villafied as a backwards and racist culture? Oh wait that already happened too. Do they want the southern states endlessly pillaged in retribution? Sorry already did that for a decade of so called “Reconstruction”. Do they want our children to believe that the Confederacy was the “bad guy” and the Union was the “good guy” and the Confederacy was swiftly and badly beaten. Yeah that’s right it’s taught in our schools today. I’m Sorry, but the whole argument of “reparations” just stinks to high Heaven. Children are not taught about the many causes of the civil war or just how bloody it really was, how many battles the union lost, or how many men a union victory cost because the union commanders were so incompetent. Hell I wasn’t even taught in school that The American Civil War is often called “The First Modern War”. Because it was the first war in history to use things like telecommunications, Trench Warfare, Repeating Weaponry, Ironclad Warships, the use of massive amounts of troops fielded into battle, mass production of arms, quick and reliable transportation, POW Camps, Submarines (The C.S.S. Hunley was the first submarine in History to sink an enemy ship), and the concept of unconditional surrender. They were all the norm by wars end. All I ever was told in school was that it was only about slavery. I’m glad I did my own research about the war I might have a much different opinion.
Speaking of POW camps Andersonville is often hailed as the worst of them all. The Commandant of the Camp was the only one tried and executed for war crimes. Well up north in Chicago, oddly enough, there was one Yankee Camp that is all but forgotten “Camp Douglas” in Chicago Illinois. Not that Andersonville wasn’t horrific, but this one was worse not because of the number who died but because of the immensely cruel treatment of Confederate Prisoners, the actions of the union commanders, and a sort of “sweeping under the rug” of the whole ordeal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Douglas_(Chicago)
http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/2757/issues/camp.htm
I’m so sick and tired of listening to the media fawn over Michelle Obama. They’re constantly comparing her to Jackie Kennedy. I wonder if she’s going to be like Jackie Kennedy? Will she disapear when her husbands girlfriends enter the party? Will she put up with her husband being, next to Clinton, the biggest whoremonger to inhabit the White House? For some reason, I don’t see her putting up with what Jackie and Hillary did, unless she has political ambitions like Hillary.
Ms Obama reminds me of one of the daughters in King Lear angling for her father’s fortune. She is so gay.
Barack and Michelle Obama are so full of shit and suffer from diarrhea of the mouth that it doesn’t matter what they say or write, it is all crap. The only one’s believing them are the Obamatown Kool-Aid drinkers and, unfortunately, like the Jonestown Kool-Aid drinkers they are a lost cause.
This sums it up plain and simple.
http://meaningfuldistractions.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/obama-oj.jpg
Well said Chrissie. I can’t improve on your excellence.
Racist Michelle, please note. I have graphic color photos of those forever young blacks as well as whites who ensured your chances and the chances of your offspring to advance, to achieve and prosper in the only society in the world where everyone has forfeited for your continued success. We all make choices that affect our lives and our futures, since 1865 the door to success has been open, all that was required was initiative. Instead it has been an exploitation of the former slave status for public sympathy, demanding equality that has been repeatedly given, all the while remaining segregated and un-assimilated. Preferring to tear down rather than join society for the promise of a public handout under the guise that you are owed something.
I for one am sick and tired of being blamed for your shortcomings, I don’t owe you anything. Nothing. The same deal you offer me and my kind. That’s equality!!!
Since emancipation the world has lent the United States their émigré’s each of them from all nationalities have assimilated and succeeded, some have gave their all to defend their new homeland without recompense. Some blacks have gotten the message of self reliance, they are what you blatently call Uncle Tom’s. They are successful through their own efforts, not by association with and for anarchist organizations.
They are productive citizens working in the shrinking private sector that has, by extortion, to pay for the public sector. You Michelle are now part of the very organization who will not let you or the self proclaimed African-Americans assimilate, propped up by Congress and your self serving so called ‘religious leaders’ just like Hamas and the Palestinians are by the UN.
Once the treasury has been bled dry, you’ll blame everyone but yourselves and riot, devolving to the Mogadishu Somalian nation you so desperately want.
How different a man of color in 1765 behaved when a mulatto of herculean size, called Crispin Attucks was crying, ‘Let us strike at the root; let us fall on the nest! Calling for the removal of oppression and excessive taxation to subjugate the populace. When Michelle, your mulatto is crying join that festering nest.!!!
Remember one thing Michelle, if you want respect you have to show it, so far neither have you or Barack shown respect to the American people.
This media ‘royal coronation’ BS is insulting and nauseating! A train ride – in Abe Lincoln fashion – got all the hoopla and attention today?
PLEASE! I decided not to watch the deal – even FOX was turned off. Who the F are these freaks? – No Valid Birth Certificate 2009
Lynn, exactly she is saying all of this started with them. The hopes, the American dream etc. It really is upsetting.
I agree Lynn so much, Michelle better learn fast this talking down to people that have loved this country and know better then she does the sacrifices made, she better expect to get verbally blasted for it.
Eden, thank you, it is a good one. I appreciate it.
BT in SA, thank you so much, that means a lot to me. I just got so fed up and angry I had to do a rant. haha
Tom, good point, that is saying a lot too, when we feel like even Hillary was better at First Lady then Michelle will be.
Your right Tom, all Michelle has been is opposite to what some of the things in her letter are saying.
This speech or whatever she calls it. This is almost an apology for what she has thought,did and acted on most of her adult life.
With what can she identify with Military families. She has never served and has always trashed the Military whenever she could, along with her pastor Jeremiah Wright.
So now that ‘whats his name’ has been elected, that means, now, this country is, now, tolerable ? How does one election change all the past grievances, sins and whatever is stuck in her craw.
It doesn’t, it means now is payback time.
JohnE PFC U.S. Army, wow thank you for all of that.
I am always leary of people that want to keep the victim thing going. Especially when it is done, over, finished and life is good or can be if they just see how they are no longer slaves. Michelle seeems to stay in that slave mode and I hope it does not effect their daughters.
Bob F., yes she is no Jackie or even Hillary. I read someplace they brought in some people to help Michelle with a make over, makeup stuff how to dress etc.
Thomas Jackson, I see what you mean.
I think she has a ton of deep seated anger and hate, just if I go by her past comments, her Thesis etc. She obviously has not gotten rid of it and it will show up again and again, she won’t be able to help herself.
Les, oh wow, what that image says. But you know what, that is how I feel about him and how Obama and his wife feel about America.
Jack, thank you so much.
When I read what she wrote all the sirens in my emotions were going off like alert this phony needs to be told off kind of thing.
I agree so much Jack with what you wrote. I sure had a surprise with this last election. I had no idea so many were so miserable being FREE. LOL I mean it, it was news to me that they still have to resent being slaves when it was eons ago and they have so many wonderful things to be proud of.
I could have cared less if the person had spots I just wanted to know what they were like inside, were they a good person or a bad one.
I agree times sure have changed.
Darth, oh it sure is!!!!!!! I swear it is keeping me sick, I know I am over the flu but I still feel so sick and I know I am better. It has to be the stress of all this BS and fawning it is so sickening.
Mark, you nailed it. That is how I think she see it. Payback time.
You are the best and we are blessed to have your wit and wisdom.I love what you wrote and I love your website.
I was watching a movie the other night from the 1940’s and it dealt with the war and the way they all came together for the goodness of the country and the troops. I found myself crying for I wasn’t alive then but longed for those days and saddened for what is about to happen next week.
Keep up the great work.
“WE are on a mission… from GOD!”