Much to do about (mostly) nothing.

Currently one of the leading stories here in the States is our First Lady's response to a protester at a speech she was giving last night.  From my previous posts it should be rather clear that I am not a big fan of her husband's policies, but I will admit to being torn about this one.


On the one hand, Michelle Obama has done a lot to establish herself as a public figure, which is becoming more and more common, especially for Democratic administrations.  By doing so she opens herself up to this sort of thing.  People have a right to be heard, especially by the higher ups in government.  What this person did has been happening for the entire life of our country and frankly isn't all that uncommon.

On the other hand, this was a fund raising event for the Democratic National Committee.  People had paid a significant amount of money to hear the First Lady speak, and they deserve to have that respected.  There is also the issue of the First Lady's own right to speak.  I am very firmly of the belief that our public servants are citizens first, and as such she had the exact same rights as the protester.

To the best of my knowledge the person protesting and the group she is affiliated with have not complained in any way about her treatment, and probably were not at all surprised when she was escorted out.  Most of the so called controversy comes from what the First Lady said to the protester, which some have chosen to view as being arrogant.  Personally, it just sounded to me like she was frustrated, which given the situation is understandable.  Could she have handled it better?  Probably.  Protesters have been handled better, but they have been handled much much worse as well.

I take one minor speck of joy out of this situation.  The protester was from Get EQUAL, a LGBT rights group.  Somewhere right now there is likely a goodly number of people who are having headaches because they have to cheer for someone working for equal rights for people practicing a lifestyle they feel is unnatural and sinful in order to bash on Michelle Obama.  The icing on the cake is the fact that there's another group of people who have to choose to complain about someone they would normally support in order to support her.