Monday, March 9, 2009
Media Even Longer Maureen Dowd
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM
The fact that Dowd likes Michelle Obama's arms doesn't mean she's "on my side." My side is the one that thinks Michelle Obama's arms—unlike, say, her remarkable intelligence, her accomplishments, or her ongoing adaptation to the strange, ever-shifting role of First Lady—aren't worth discussing.
Dowd's side? That's the one comparing Michelle Obama to Ginger Rogers and describing bare arms as a display of "overt sexuality":
Let’s face it: The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps. Her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff and all the corporate creeps who ripped off America.In the taxi, when I asked David Brooks about her amazing arms, he indicated it was time for her to cover up. “She’s made her point,” he said. “Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”
I’d seen the plaint echoed elsewhere. “Someone should tell Michelle to mix up her wardrobe and cover up from time to time,” Sandra McElwaine wrote last week on The Daily Beast.
Washington is a place where people have always been suspect of style and overt sexuality. Too much preening signals that you’re not up late studying cap-and-trade agreements.
David was not smitten by the V-neck, sleeveless eggplant dress Michelle wore at her husband’s address to Congress — the one that caused one Republican congressman to whisper to another, “Babe.”
He said the policy crowd here would consider the dress ostentatious. “Washington is sensually avoidant. The wonks here like brains. She should not be known for her physical presence, for one body part.” David brought up the Obamas’ obsession with their workouts. “Sometimes I think half the reason Obama ran for president is so Michelle would have a platform to show off her biceps.”
During the campaign, there was talk in the Obama ranks that Michelle should stop wearing sleeveless dresses, because her muscles, combined with her potent personality, made her daunting.
She ignored that talk, thank heavens. I love the designer-to-J. Crew glamour. Combined with her workaday visits to soup kitchens, inner-city schools and meetings with military families, Michelle’s flair is our depression’s answer to Ginger Rogers gliding around in feathers and lamé.
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modo is a pot stirrer. that's her only trick.
besides, who gets a boner from bare arms? my high school orchestra teacher always wore sleeveless turtlenecks - i was able to get through class without tumescence.
What makes her awful is that she fixates on some gendered feature of a political personality--a strong woman with bare arms, oh my--and then psychoanalyzes it in a way that reveals more about her own needs and insecurities than politics. And therein lies the rub: to attempt to understand Dowd it is necessary to resort to the same armchair pop psychology that she uses and that makes her awful.
I only ever feel worse after reading something she has written. Either because I think about the merits of what she wrote, or because I try to understand the why she wanted to publish that crap.
I hope you put on your goggles before you went off the deep-end.
Other than more global warming, mind you.
Blessings.
http://www.marriedtothesea.com/
What will happen when Dowd finally gives up the ghost of her Carrie Bradshaw life? I hope she starts focusing on structured arcs and relevance in her writing instead of continuing to try to convince people that her headshot from eons ago is still accurate. Maybe then she'll be worth reading.
Come on, People of Seattle, show us your overt sexuality. Your remarkable intelligence, accomplishments, and creativity aren't worth discussing.
Just look hot.
ECB's take on Maureen is mysteriously similar to Salon - even including the reference to NYT paid content!!!
Read this and it explains her initial spin then this pathetic rationalization.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2009…
And "Can do" reminds me of Rosie The Riveter.
Dan has a pretty lenient plagiarism policy. That's why he lets other columnists steal all his stuff.
Salon: "This, folks, is the top-notch content the Times wanted readers to pay for."
ECB: "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the kind of scintillating content the New York Times wanted to make you pay for."
This is the journalism we're going to get when the newspapers die. Or not going to get because there won't be anyone left to steal from.
Yay blogs!
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