Echoes of TV’s First Lady-Michelle Obama’s last true cultural antecedent is ‘Cosby’s’ Clair Huxtable

washingtonpost.com via MSNBC ^ | June 19, 2009 | Robin Givhan

[John W]

WASHINGTON - So far, the first lady has chosen to be a food bank volunteer with an outsize entourage and an education activist with the largest soapbox imaginable. But Michelle Obama also fills a role that is not of her choosing but that may, in fact, be the most influential: She serves as a symbol of middle-class progress, feminist achievement, affirmative-action success and individual style.

And she has done all this on the world stage . . . while being black.

Time and again, observers grasp for adjectives to describe Obama's combination of professional accomplishment and soccer-mom maternalism. It's no wonder so many eye her with awe and disbelief. Or why a minority still view her with suspicion. There have been few broad cultural precedents for what she represents.

[Lord Basil]

Was Claire into patient dumping?

[csense]

My FRiend, do you really think that’s necessary?

[bray]

MSDNC is Racist!@

Pray for America

[LRS]

From Huxtables to hoaxables...

[6SJ7]

Badda ping!

[Venturer]

I dont understand either why anyone would suspect a woman who took a profitable job with a hospital which was a political appointment because her husband , A Senator was sending over money. A woman who said she wasnt proud of her country, a woman who is a disbarred lawyer.

A woman who is as phony and racist as they come, playing at being a lady

[Blogatron]

Where’s the picture of her in a football helmut and shoulder pads?

[DustyMoment]

She serves as a symbol of middle-class progress, feminist achievement, affirmative-action success and individual style. And she has done all this on the world stage . . . while being black.

This should have come with a barf alert!! I'm especially offended by the last part of the 2nd sentence which makes "being black" sound like some kind of affliction . . . . . . . and I'm NOT black!!!

[depressed in 06]

She serves as a symbol of middle-class progress, feminist achievement, affirmative-action success...

Isn't this what she railed against in her senior paper.

[ArrogantBustard]

I got through the first paragraph, before blowing chunks.

That has to be a record of some sort.

[browniexyz]

Didn’t the guy who played Barney the Dinosaur end up charged with murder?

[Lizavetta]

I couldn't find it so you'll have to make do with the bow legged black widow pic:

[trisham]

[Iron Munro]

She brings new hope to the millions of other beneficiaries of racist policies enabling them to attend the nations best schools where millions of dollars are wasted on futile attempts to educate them beyond their intelligence.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

There goes my breakfast.

[lacrew]

And she chewed her food today...while being black!

And she dialed a telephone...while being black!

She fell asleep last night....despite being black!

She is an AMAZING woman.

I’m gonna wash that white guilt right outta my hair...

[trisham]

Sorry. :) Here's a nice shot of Sarah and Piper to make up for it:

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Her first job was at a very prestigious law firm where she was in charge of Barney the Dinosaur.

And don't forget that she was compelled to surrender her law license or face prosecution.

[RichInOC]

Ladies and gentlemen, I remember Clair Huxtable. Clair Huxtable was a beautiful, gracious, graceful and classy lady. (As is, as far as I can tell, Phylicia Rashad, who played her.) Michelle Obama is no Clair Huxtable.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

mychelle is a disgrace to America and the people who, believe in the US Constitution. She is so Fugly and mad at the whities.

The Truth,
NSNR