WaPo goes snarky on the First Lady

This is more than a tad surprising:

Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do?

Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:

The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.

Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"

Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.

There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots.

The first lady had encouraged Freshfarm Markets, the group that runs popular farmers markets in Dupont Circle and elsewhere, to set up near the White House, and she helped get the approvals to shut down Vermont Avenue during rush hour on Thursdays. But the result was quite the opposite of a quaint farmers market. Considering all the logistics, each tomato she purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons.

The promotion of organic and locally grown food, though an admirable cause, is a risky one for the Obamas, because there's a fine line between promoting healthful eating and sounding like a snob.

The Obamas as snobs?  Whodathunkthat?

Well... Morgan for one... who speaks for me:

I think this is an apt metaphor for the 44th presidency. Not that I mean to insult vegetable gardeners, but it seems to me an imbalanced lifestyle has been embraced, one devoted to the lifestyle of a vegetable gardener who possesses vast holdings of land, but is obsessed only with that one damn garden. Pull the weeds, spray the weeds, fertilize the vegetables, plant the vegetables, harvest the vegetables…from the moment the gardener rises in the morning, until he puts his weary head down for the night. Just stay fixated on image, image, image the way the gardener remains fixated on the garden.

Elsewhere, there are bridges that need mending…and fences too. There are taxes to be paid on owning the land. There is a house to be painted with a roof that needs patching. Babies with dirty wet butts that need changing. Meals to be cooked, and after that’s done, dishes to be washed and ovens to be cleaned. And on the far corner of the property a pack of wild coyotes is making inroads, doing their scavenging and fornicating and pooping and yelling. As they get bolder, they’re going to start carrying off things like kittens and puppies, then work their way up the babies.

There’s sh*t to be taken care off. All over that spread.

But no. Nothing matters except the vegetable garden of public image. So get someone on the phone with Chris Wallace to do some whining.

Nailed.  Totally.

Nothing matters except the vegetable garden of public image.

Morgan once again sez in few words what would take others (including me) many, many more.  And he complements Dana Milbank quite nicely.

Pass this one on and give credit where credit is due.

Comments

[Locutisprime]

Why is this so surprising? I mean it's not like Laura Bush didn't do the exact same thing on a regular basis. I mean didn't she?

Meanwhile, is anyone keeping track of the odometer on Air Force One lately?

[Dymphna]

This is a good mix here. However, at first I thought your post was continuing on with Dana Milbank until I got to the part about the babies' butts and the coyote poop. I had to scroll up to check out if I'd missed something...obviously I hadn't seen your switch to Morgan. Whew...thought maybe WaPo was getting real on us.

I'm annoyed with their endorsement of the inept Dem for our state governor (VA). They have not only endorsed him three ways to Sunday but they're going real negative on the Republican. It's gotten to be a joke...even the Weekly Standard did a satire page on their coverage.

Obviously, they're scared of the coming by-elections. They know the Dems may well be in the minority again. Can you say "karmic justice"?

[reg whilam]

"I mean didn't she?"

No, she didn't. I can't even imagine her being that pretentious. If she had, twerps in the media would have been screaming non-stop.